[jacquesm]

Yes, it's perfectly normal. If you can, find a programming buddy. That will help you across these humps far more quickly than you can do on your own, in fact you may no longer even notice them.

Fear of failure is best dealt with by successful delivery.

A story from the dark ages (pre-internet).

I'd landed a contract to pioneer the automated digitization of passport photographs and the printing of those photographs on credit cards. Unfortunately, this project was way above my skills at the time and every day I regretted taking the job. But, day-by-day my knowledge grew and at some point I started to see a way out. In the end it took almost two years from start to working prototype scanner / printer but my self-doubt was dealt with on the day the customer took delivery of the first machine. As long as you are making progress (even if it is slow) you'll get there, if you give up then that's the end of the line.

So don't give up, just keep plugging away at it. And if you can, find that buddy. It's more fun that way anyway.