This is definitely the way to go. You can create documents while offline, and they'll get uploaded to Google Drive the next time you connect to the internet.
If you _must_ send a doc via email as an attachment, it will be converted to a .pdf (at least on my Android 4.1.2 device).
If you _must_ send a doc via email as an attachment, it will be converted to a .pdf (at least on my Android 4.1.2 device).