Hey Kurt,
That’s good news that you’re chatting a lot. You’re both on the app to date someone so I suppose if she’s interested she wouldn’t be engaging with you in the first place so I’d say you should just go for it.
I met my wife via a dating website and I was on a couple of them a few years back so went on my fair share of dates. From my own experience I learnt a lot from the stupid choices I made to try and impress. At first I booked expensive meals, made elaborate plans and often spent weeks talking to someone investing lots of time and effort only to know within minutes of meeting them in person that we weren’t a match.
If I were to give any advice it would be that meeting up early is usually sensible so you don’t invest weeks only to be disappointed by rejection or by your own awareness you aren’t a match. The first few dates I went on were ruined by my nervousness as I came across like an overexcited child and appearing overly keen. The more dates I went on the less I felt like everything was riding on that one date. So I think taking each date like practice for the right person helped me also.
Like your experience it took a lot of effort to get my first few dates on the apps but eventually once I relaxed a bit it was much more fruitful. Like the advice above thinking of a quirky question about something specific on a person’s bio can make you stand out. Also avoid hi, hey, hello etc as subject headings.
In terms of date ideas a coffee can be a bit self limiting so I tend to like things like food/drinks markets/festivals or a common interest you’ve spoken about. It should be somewhere you can talk but perhaps with something to drive conversation.
Around Christmas I loved Christmas/festive markets for dates. There’s something for everyone there but that doesn’t help for now.
You seem like a great guy Kurt so I think you’ll hit it off with someone sooner rather than later. Just don’t mention you’re a Derby fan