Article Marketing Confusion

Hi,

I'm in the newbie category, and am still trying to get a handle on the
process of making multiple unique articles to send to multiple directories,
from each article I put on my site.

My question is, what is the best strategy?
I started my first site with a template that came with 4 PLR articles.
After I rewrite these 4 PLR articles to make them unique and put them
on my site, how many unique variations should I make to send out to the directories,
before moving on and writing a new original article for my site?

In addition, should I first start with one different version of each of the original 4 articles
and send those out to ezine, or should I just send one to ezine and the other
3 to 3 different directories?

I hear that ezine takes a long time in getting back. Should I just concentrate on just
a few directories or keep sending to different ones.

If each article sent to so many directories need to a certain percentage unique from
the original, one could spend all there time, altering there original 4 articles.
Are there spinning programs (without monthly fees) that are helpful
that someone can recommend?

Thank you,
Bob