Hello @gaileijksr Welcome to Hive. So nice to meet you. So glad you chose Hive for your writing experience. It may seem daunting at first with so many activities and so much to learn. Take your time. Nothing will happen overnight.
The key I feel to being successful on any social platform, especially on Hive is to write original, quality content and engage and connect with other authors with quality comments on their articles. They in turn may engage with you.
Did you know that when you publish your posts on hive.blog, you are allowed 8 tags; but when you publish your posts on Peakd, you are allowed 10 tags. The more tags, the more exposure for your posts. For example, if you write about food, an appropriate tag may be: #foodiesbeehive #food #diy #build-it #creativecoin.
Find several Communities that fit with your writing. No matter what type of writing, there is a Community on Hive to accommodate it. Just browse the COMMUNITIES TAB above. As as I was saying below, since you write poetry, you may want to publish it in the Ink Well Community
Also you mention you love to cook. Why not check out the Terminal's Cookbook Contest here.
Hope to engage with you again soon. Take care and stay safe.