Assuming no help, which I'd prefer, and assuming little to no
experience, as I noted in an earlier post, would it be feasible to
afix a longish, shallow "L" bracket to the ceiling to support one end
of a board while I worked with the other end and over towards the
bracket, moving the bracket over every couple of boards or so?

Also, assuming that I wouldn't be able to work with boards long enough
to span the ceiling, is it better to randomly space joints or have a
set pattern. A book I looked through shows joints arranged in a set
organized pattern. That is, one board is 10' and the one joined at its
end is 8'. Then the row next to them is a board 8' joined by one 10'
and so on 10 and 8, 8 and 10. I suppose it depends on the look you
want, but random seems more interesting to me.

And thanks for the comments in the earlier "stupid question?" post, by
the way.