how do i talk to people and keep conversations flowing?

Ive always been quiet but have been trying to come out of my shell more recently. Ive tried just putting myself out there and just going out more and im definitely enjoying myself but ive not been getting any better at talking to people.

I do try my best, i try to have topics to talk about prepared but it seems no matter how much i try and prepare when it comes to it i just cant hold a conversation. My go to’s are the usual, “hi how are you” , “you been at work today? how was it” and that sort of stuff but i struggle to get past that unless the other person sort of carries the conversation.

I think my main problem is that im just boring. But im in an awkward stage where im doing the things i need to do to become more interesting, but i dont have them yet so i dont have much to talk about or anecdotes to tell. I also tend to mumble a lot and lose my train of thought while speaking but i guess those are also things that will improve as i go

Another big thing is that i overthink way too much. A lot of the time before i let myself speak i have to go over it over and over in my head and then try and prepare responses for things they could reply with. I think i started doing it because it takes me a little while to actually process what people say and make a response, so in my head im trying to be prepared but most of the time they end up saying something i dont expect them to and then i just end up panicking and either just laugh, say “yeah” or mumble something vaguely related to what they said, which usually ends in just awkward silence.
I’ve tried not doing that and just saying whatever feels right but genuinely nothing ever comes to mind. My brain just freezes up and goes blank, the only thing i end up thinking is “you need to say something” but i never know what that something can be.

Any advice would be helpful even ideas of topics to talk about would really help. Ive know people like to talk about popular tv shows and music but i never know which ones, so if theres any current popular shows or music suggestions for me to get into that would really help too, at least theyd be something to talk about 😁