How to continue after the book?

[I Lindström via Digitalmars-d-learn]

After getting the basics down, how did you continue when learning 
programming in general?

I do have a need for which I've been trying out a few languages 
and D seems by far the best for me. Should I just start doing 
that project and learn as I go by googling and asking here, or 
are there some other things you did before starting your first 
"real" project.