DOCBOOK: newbie kick in the pants

[tf@malcolmsmith.net]

howdy guys,

I need a ruthlessly simple "kick-start".  I just got the xml docbook
tarball, and I need to know what to do with it. 

I have an sgml mode for emacs already - and I'm pretty sure its
psgml, but on one of the "tutorial" sites I've visited, more emacs
action was mentioned.

one more...if I'm writing docs, say, in emacs...do I write it
all, then mark it up, or mark it up as I go? (the latter seems like
a pain)

thanks for your patience,

-Tom