The most important thing is to get practice. As much as you can get. If you haven't already, install an instance of SQL Server on your private laptop and/or home desktop. SQL Server Express edition is a free download that enables you to play around with most features; if you need acccess to the full feature set, you can buy Developer Edition for, I think, about 50 dollars per license. (I think you will need one license for each computer you install it on). Developer Edition gives you access to the full feature set of Enterprise Edition, but the license does not cover production use - development and testing only.

It's also very important to know where to ask for help. Always try to find a solution first, using Books Online, trial and error, and Google/Bing - but don't hesitate to ask for help if needed. There are forums on this site, but there are also forums on many other sites. The most popular are probably the MSDN forums. Also, if you're on Twitter, you can get quick answers to short questions by using the #sqlhelp tag.

For reading, I can recommend lots of sites. MSDN is mostly reference. This site has lots of articles, but unfortunately, the quality varies from extremely good to extremely bad, and everything in between. When you read an article here, always check if there was any debate on the forums (each article has a link to it's own forum discussion, just like the daily questions), and then still double check what you read. The daily question here is also nice, but beware that question authors often focus on edge cases, whereas in your actual work you will need the normal stuff most often.

A source of very high quality information is the blogger site sqlblog.com. (And I'm not saying that becuase I blog there, but because there are many great bloggers there - and note that there are also many great bloggers who blog elsewhere, so don't limit yourself to just that one site). However, due to the nature of blogs, it may be hard to find material of your own level.

It's hard for me to recommend books, as I don't read that many books - and those I do read are not really targeted at the beginner level. One book I can recommend wholeheartedly is Paul Nielsens "SQL Server 2008 Bible". (For full disclosure, I will say upfront that I was involved in the production of this book - I was the lead technical editor. I was payed a fixed amount for this, so I have no financial interest in driving its sales). I believe this book does achieve what it sets out to do - cover almost everything in SQL Server, starting at a level suitable for relative newcomers, but not stopping short of the more advanced stuff.

Be warned that this is a pretty hefty volume. Don't plan to read it on a plane, you'll have to pay for excess weight. And check it out before buying, it may be more than you need at this time. I think there is also a "SQL Server 2012 Bible", but I have not seen any of its contents, so I can't comment on the quality. I know that Paul Nielsen, the original author of the "SQL Server ... Bible" series, was no longer involved in this edition.

For more book reading suggestions, you might want to start a new discussion in an appropriate forum and see what other suggestions you get.