My comment about "where you want to live" has more to do with working as a publishing professional than working as a writer. You can live anywhere if you are a writer, and if you want to make connections, you can join professional writing organizations and attend professional conference and stuff.

Working in publishing as a publishing professional (editor, publicist, whatever) is a little harder. There's an entry with advice and stories of other people's beginnings here (http://alg.livejournal.com/83635.html).