Katie, make the guitar as easy to play as you can. Some pompass ass will take exception at this comment and call me girlish, but when I started at age 55, I put 9 gauge electric strings on my acoustic because my fingers hurt! I am now doing just fine over a year later and I no longer run 9 gauge strings on that guitar. And the best news of all is my manhood remains intact.

Your fingers will still need to toughen up, but why not make it easy on yourself. Regular practice is important, if you can do an hour each day, great. If not do what you can but do it regularly.

Good luck