One trick I use is to write the comments first. This will focus you on what you need to be doing and not getting bogged down in the nitty gritty of making it work.

Also start small. Once you have the concept of what you need to do clear in your mind, find a small part of it that you can get working. Then build on that adding in small increments, always making sure everything is working as you envisioned before adding on, this way a large complex task can be made doable.

Perl helps enormously in this process. I have had to work in VB in the past. In VB you do things Bill's way or its the highway. I always managed to get things done in VB but it felt like swimming in mud. With Perl I do things the way I think they should work and more often than not it does work.