The only advice I can give you is experiment. You can't just open up RPG Maker and expect to create an epic game in a week, experiment with different ideas and check out the features of RPG Maker. If you need resources, check out the resource link thread in RPG Maker 2k/2k3 board for places with resources you need/want. If you need help on switches and variables (which is almost like the backbone of RPG Maker 2000 and 2003), check out some tutorials on the basics of using them.
If you need help with anything, don't hesitate to ask in Troubleshooting, but make sure you do research on the problem you are having, you may find the answer yourself and gain knowledge on how to fix it if it ever happens again.
Also, if you are using RPG Maker 2000, I would recommend upgrading to 2003. RPG Maker XP and VX are also available.