Welcome to Steemit!
I too live in Oregon, when it's not the rainy season it's the fire season. Don't move here.
This platform has rewarded writers well. A friend made $300 quickly by posting old D&D adventures she had written.
One group which has been very helpful to me is the #Minnowsupportproject, there are a lot of people over there helping new folks to use Steemit.
I use Steem.supply to check my voting power and band width. I also use Steemd.com to see many things about my account.
Stack Edit is a great site for editing your post. I really like to see my post side by side while I am editing it.
I use these Discord channels among others.
Steemit Creators’ Guild
PALnet
SteemUSA
Steem Star Network
Anyhow, I am glad you joined.
Thanks for the tips! And here's to Oregon, such a terrible place to live! :)