Pleasure to meet your acquaintance Katrina!
My little piece of advice since you said you've joined a couple of contests... Remember that contests on FAA aren't usually what you might consider REAL contests but more of a way to help get you exposure for your art. That's the primary excuse you'll be left with. There is a lot of solicitation even when the "rules" from the host advises against it, and even within FAA itself. Not a perfect world, but some site updates are hopefully improving other things gradually. I seem to remember also that you need to be a member of FAA for 30 days before you're allowed to vote in contests or something like that.
Read everything you can about the site and you will learn how to link your images to social media, and tips on how to tag your images for searches, etc. There are multiple links on certain topics that you can search on that can help you learn the ropes in here. There are people willing to answer questions and some of them even work for FAA that are capable of more than answers.
I love your passion and understand how you feel. Just wait 'til you have your first sale!!!
All the best to you here on FAA.
