getting started?

First step is just educating yourself. Personally the only good answer I could give is specifically about getting into Marxist literature.

There's a few short pamphlets I'd highly recommend, they are the quickest reads of theory

Why Socialism? by Albert Einstein 

The Principles of Communism by Frederick Engels  

The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism by Vladimir I. Lenin

And then the books/comps I started out with and probably would recommend to others were:

Marxist Classics Vol. 1 from WellRed Books (this one)

- The Communist Manifesto by K. Marx & F. Engels

- Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by F. Engels

- The State and Revolution by V. I. Lenin

- Transitional Program (Death Agony of Capitalism...) by Leon Trotsky

Marxist Classics Vol. 2 from WR Books (this)

- Wage Labour and Capital by Karl Marx

- Value, Price & Profit by K. Marx

- "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder by V. I. Lenin

- In Defense of October by L. Trotsky

- Stalinism and Bolshevism by L. Trotsky

Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism by V. I. Lenin

and then after this I guess you could crack into Das Kapital, but you really want to make sure you actually fully understand what's in these texts, and how they apply to current events. and I'll be honest it takes a lot of back tracking and re reading, it took me well over a year to finish just Classics V1 but I really have found it to be gratifying to get through. And this is truly just the surface of quality socialist theory.

Basically once one has developed a solid political perspective the next thing is to put it to use, and join any sort of community outreach groups, mutual aid groups, tenets rights, food distros, etc. etc. just bring your authentic self to your community that's my political guide.

This is really helpful, thank you!