Agree with Ace_McGregor. Do the boot camp. Click "The DJ Bible" below to download the .pdf's. People here start boot camps all the time. You can search this forum for boot camp, and find past boot camps that people ran. They posted things like what it was like to say hello to strangers, starting conversations, etc.
You already mentioned the biggest problem.. "PHOBIA", not skills. The trick is to walk up to a new person, and talk as if you've known the person for some time. So, just adopt that very mindset. Walk up to people, starting with easier targets like cashiers, older people, etc, and act AS IF you've known the person for quite some time. How would you feel around someone you've known? What would you feel comfortable discussing? etc.
Finally, get away from the computer and talk to someone. ANY conversation, no matter how brief, long, good, bad, etc beats NO conversation.
