Question: I had a website tying messages-with gifts online around 2006. I notice that there are several patents dealing with this topic and I believe that I have written evidence that I considered the same processes that are now patented. I am wondering if I have something to sell to the patent holders?

Answer: 
You might consider writing a patent using this analogy: writing a critical app using a new coding language that is vaguely related to the language you presently prefer, but that has a few interesting type conventions which, if you don't know about them, will lead to significant bugs.

You get one chance to compile and debug, after the code is written. The compiler may produce recoverable errors, or it may produce unrecoverable errors. The recoverable errors will cost $1000s to fix, while the unrecoverable ones will not be fixable.

How do you feel about writing a patent document on your own?
I agree completely with Ken S (the above poster), and couldn't put it better. I have also drafted my own patent application, and my lawyer has had to change very little. 

Writing the claims is something else. It seems to require a different, more strategic approach, than the descriptions. Those are truly just technical documents detailing your invention and illustrating the novel aspects.

Still, going it alone might not always be a bad choice. The claims I had written, but not shown, to my lawyer were nearly identical to her wording and substance as well. Either she is a bad lawyer or I've grasped something about the process. 

Studying approved patents, and also what happened to those products, is great practice whether you lawyer-up or not.