lots of advice here, some valuable, and some not so valuable.

I would like to give you just one piece of advice, whether you are fingerpicking or flatpicking.

That advice is: under no circumstances rest your pinkie on the soundboard while picking

There will be howls of outrage here, and countless references to great guitar players, both fingerpickers and flatpickers, who do rest their pinkies on the soundboard (and I am aware of this, I have seen them perform) but the fact is that these same players would have been so much better if they had learned to play without resting their pinkies on the soundboard.