Welcome to Steemit! I am also an ex Maryland resident. That is really awesome that you declined payout on your first post. It really does show that you are also here for the community, which is awesome. You can follow @greetersguild and @newbieresteemday if you would like, both are full of supportive people that you can interact with. Anytime you feel that you have written a quality post, you can use the tags #newbieresteemday and #greeterguild, they are there for newbies to get seen be the community that supports them and hopefully it can get you some extra attention on your post. Don'get discouraged on Steemit. We know how hard being a newbie is and that is why these two groups are there. You can use up to 5 tags on each post so whenever possible try to use all 5 tags that are relevant to your post so that you can gain as much exposure as possible. Have fun and Steem on!