Welcome to WordPress community, I'm sorry this is discouraging you.
I would not use WordPad. It mangles the file.
If you are willing to try to something new, try this free editor:
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
I don't know how you are uploading your files but this client is an easy choice:
http://filezilla-project.org/
That's a good place to start. Sounds to me like WordPress is not the problem. You are just new to this self-managed server. You might choose a host that specializes in WordPress hosting and support.
Working at the server level may cause you other problems so, if you can, you might keep your blog running at the blogger site so you can enjoy the process.
A second domain name for testing and development is a great investment. Use the link editor for all internal links because as long as you don't refer to the domain name in your internal links, you can swap out one domain for the other easily. Your host can help you password-protect the entire domain so you can work privately. Once you get the site up and running, you'll never want to go back.