Single-Contact One-Click Mail Merge

Hi - and help!

I am trying to find a way to generate a letter in Microsoft Word from a single contact in Microsoft Outlook. Typically, I do one of two things:

1) Open my letter template in Word and cut and paste the relevant contact information (name, address, salutation, etc.) from the Outlook Contact into my letter; or,

2) Open the contact in Outlook, then click Actions->New Letter to Contact, and follow the wizard.

Unfortunately, each of these steps takes about a dozen clicks and 1-2 minutes. What I would LOVE is to be able to select a contact in Outlook, click a button, and generate the letter in Word with everything formatted correctly and in the right place. I have seen a couple of third-party solutions along these lines, but nothing that does exactly what I'm after. So that brings me to a do-it-myself solution.

Now some background: I have only programmed through Visual Basic for Excel, and I'm pretty proficient at that but a total novice in other programs. I am willing to learn and have even looked at some books trying to figure out how to do this, but the level of knowledge that is assumed is too far above me. Some of my basic questions about this effort are as follows:

1) Does this require code-writing? I have to believe that it does....
2) Can I write code in Outlook or Word or do I need a stand-alone program - Visual Basic, for example?
3) Can anyone give me even the most basic architecture for this project - a sample of something that can get me started?

Thanks very much - I'll be very grateful for any help from the discussion board....

John T.