Well OK fine, do it for her. But if she rejects you again just say fuck it and move on and do it for another girl (or the idea of another girl) because otherwise you're just going to slip back into bad habits if that happens.

That she doesn't start conversations isn't that great of a sign, but equally some people (like me) don't start online/text conversations even with people I like a lot.

I recommend you don't "confess", even if you make vast improvements in yourself. When people get dates, they don't go up to somebody and say "I really like you", they say "Hey, I'm going for a coffee would you like to come?" etc. The idea is that you're putting the two of you in a situation where its just the two of you, but in a public place and not a "classic date" thing (e.g. dinner at a restaurant). You have to get her interested in you enough to be able to get into one of those situations, and confessing is just going to scare her off if she doesn't like you as much/at all.