Welcome from sunny southern California where we bask in mid 70 F weather.
Below are links to two threads/articles that have lots of information on pen turning. The first one is a very basic overview of the many aspects of getting into turning pens. http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42446
Glad to have you here. Join in the fun and make some pens. Several folks from your end of TN guys on here to help too! If we can help, just ask a question!