Well done Leah, to answer your "what if" I dove in headlong in summer 2016, after reading a post in a Facebook writer's group calling steemit a scam. After looking at it, I thought, what have I got to lose? So, I spent the summer developing new fiction, and over the course of the year, between my steem dollars, and the steem I cashed out, I took over $60k off of steemit. So, my advice is keep it up. Right now is a great time to get started. The price of steem is up, so payouts are high. I'm making several hundred USD daily on average. Glad you're here! Keep it up!