Hi Talia,
You could ask your connections what they mean, and then they would tell you and you would know. Do your connections work in publishing? Sometimes people mean well, but they can inadvertently make you look bad while trying to help you out.
A personal story: A few years ago my mom was at a ritzy party hosted by my aunt and uncle and my mom happened to start talking to a woman there who mentioned she was an editor at Random House. My mother immediately said, "Oh! What a co-incidence. My child is a writer!! Let me tell you about her."
At which point my uncle who was standing right there, *thankfully* said to my mother. "NO." and removed my mother from that group.
My mother told me this story and said, "Your uncle was so rude." and I told my mother, "Don't you EVER try to interfere or take a hand in my writing career again. My uncle did exactly the right thing." Because I was about to look clueless-by-proxy if my mother had kept talking. She still doesn't understand what she did wrong.
I have one connection that I've never used: Years ago, an author read a short story of mine and offered to refer me to her agent (said agent only takes queries by referral), once I'd written a novel. That was nearly 20 years ago. I didn't start querying until 2011, so I figure the expiry date on that referral is long past. I don't regret it. I wasn't ready to write a novel back then. Still don't have an agent. Still querying. No regrets, though.
-Whirly
