Other tidbits as mentioned by others -

~ Collect ALL vegetation you find. The weight is insignificant and food is a must.

~ Kill all deer and boar on sight. Again, food.

~ Once you feel confident enough to mine, chop down some trees and make a bench. Cover the bench to make it usable then create torches to place on the ground around you. As someone else mentioned, greys hate fire, it will keep them away.

~ There is a technique of digging underneath copper and silver nodes. Once there is nothing surrounding the node, a single hit with a pickaxe will shatter the entire node which is cool to watch. After this, you can just come and go just collecting instead of picking away.

~ No one ever seems to mention this as nearly as often as it should: Find a troll and practice rolling from its attacks. It is FAR easier once you realize how many I-frames the roll has. Watch and maintain your stamina and you can roll-attack anything to death.