Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in, and say I absolutely agree with all the study tips already said here. I'm new as well and the way I did it was learn 5 a day using the videos here on this website.
After she would show the stroke order to write one, I paused the video on the kana, and would first write the romanji for it at the top of the page ("a" for あ, also consider writing how it sounds for pronunciation, in this case 'ah') and then write the character at least 20-40 times on a page of paper. I didn't worry about it looking absolutely perfect, instead I would write it as 'naturally' as I could while still writing it properly.
Afterwards I would circle the ones I felt were my best; which I felt help me memorize the way I should I write them (I'm a very visual thinker).
The next day I moved onto the next video with the next five and repeated it, only this time after I was done writing these new 5 characters 20-40 times, I would write all the ones I previously learned from memory (without checking back how they are drawn) along with the new ones I learned this day on a new piece of paper once in a row. While also writing the romanji above each character (ex: write 'su' above す). I would then check to make sure I wrote them all correctly. If I messed up on one I would write that one out 20-40 times again like I did the first time.
Also, throughout he day whenever I had free time, I would take a moment and write every character I memorized so far in a row. (Don't forget to write the romanji above each one to help remember the sound of the character.)
Before I knew it I was drawing over half of the hiragana characters from memory. Then eventually all of them. It took about a week doing only 5 at a time, so it was a bit of a slower method, but I felt like it paid off in the long term because they were very much ingrained in my head.
Also consider taking up typing in hiragana. It was a lot of fun to me and since you type in romanji you can start right away. Just make sure you are actually focusing on the characters it converts the romanji into, don't want romanji to be a 'crutch', otherwise you are back to not being able to read it and only type it! 
However, this is completely optional and the writing plan I did was what made me really memorize hiragana.
Hope this helps and keep up the great work! 
がんばってください！ 
EDIT: Oh and above all, make sure you say the sound of the character out loud each time you write it. This helps a ton imo. I recommend checking out videos on how to pronounce the 'r' sound, as well as the 'tsu' sound, better to make sure you have it down right from the start.
