In reply to What letters to start with?:
still don't fully understand how one can take advantage of reoccurring shapes throughout the alphabet in designing a font
Leslie Cabarga in her book Learn Fontlab Fast tells that :
If we construct our characters in a methodical and consistent way from the start, by copying and mirroring serifs, bowls, angled stems and so o, the computer does the measuring for us
I hope this answers your question and you understood what I was trying to say. Try finding out common and recurring shapes like, the vertical stems of n, m, u, h should be of same width. etc.