Get a good book (or books). Not just any book, but a book that interests you.
Don't expect to speak like a native speaker even after years of study. For that, you will need a native speaker's help, or come to Japan.
I first started by memorizing the KANAs and practiced them for a while until I was able to write and read them easily. I've been practicing (understand and write) basic words (days, months,colors,numbers...) and the every-day conversation sentences.Lately I started studying the JLPT 4 kanjis... well it took me a long time uptil now (about a year) since I'm studying it solo .. I'm mainly using the internet (teaching lessons,flash cards...) because there are no Japanese teaching classes here in Lebanon ...