Small questions:

1. It says I have 12 posts but I really only have one!

It combines comments as well for now.

1. What’s the little number in parentheses next to my username?

Reputation based on posting rewards.

1. What’s the best way to create content that is visible/engaging, easily shared? Any tips/tricks?

I'd recommend reading this article: https://steemit.com/steemit/@thecryptofiend/steemit-quick-start-guide-step-by-step-from-registration-to-first-post

1. I see some posts that have really awesome content, but they are getting $0.00 or less than $1, and I see other posts that are not exceptionally interesting but they are getting dozens of dollars, even hundreds! What’s the deal? Is there more to earning than posting? Is the secret in engaging?

There are a lot of different factors involved in that, reputation, trail following, curators, timezones, author consistency, fan followers, etc etc. Some curators try their best to spread the rewards as fairly as possible to effort/quality/content, some more or less than others. With more time, users and distributed voting power it will become more and more balanced.

1. Do you find that others are genuinely engaged in commenting or do you see more generis comments just for the sake of monetization?

There is still a lot of generic comments going around and users just hoping that the more they spam the bigger their income may get. As curators again we try to vote and reward what we read and try to watch out for spammers and bots.

1. Promotion: How to do it, why, and when?

Good question, some of us have promoted it for quite some time in our own ways. Since everyone has a stake in this it of course feels like it would be in your interest to show more users about this innovation.
The team has recently hired a PR manager and check out #growth-ideas for a community planning and if you want to contribute yourself.

Big questions:

1. What do you enjoy most about being part of the Steemit Community?

The people, the content and the incentives.

1. How did you get introduced to Steemit and what is your motivation for contributing content?

Heard about it early on as an active Redditor and an blockchain enthusiast for a long time.

1. Where does this money actually come from? How are we getting paid to create? Do you have any resources I should check out to better grasp this new world?!

I'd recommend this article: https://steemit.com/steemit/@donkeypong/still-confused-by-steem-steem-dollars-and-steem-power-the-power-plant-analogy

and if you want to get more in depth I'd suggest reading Hive account@dan's posts.

Do you have any cool stories/interactions with others on Steemit that have really enhanced your life / changed your perspective in some way?

There are many! I especially enjoy reading from authors who are located in south-america and hit hard by inflation right now and how the platform and technology has helped them out.
With Bitcoin's increase in transaction cost I believe more and more people will take advantage of Steem's free transactions. Not to mention where one coin wastes a lot of electricty in $ per day to make their network safer and this one is Proof-of-Stake and 90% of the daily generated coins go to authors, commenters and curators.