How to light a fire

OMG, Why is it so hard to light a bloody fire?
Since moving into our new house, which has an indoor wood burner, I have been struggling to light a fire on my own. I know how and follow all the instructions I have been given, not necessarily using the correct lighting methods as we don't buy every lighting method available but I do follow the instructions given and end up with no fire! It just won't light and is really annoying as sometimes it is the only heat we have. We have not been lucky enough to experience the lovely Indian Summer of down south in England and have had a lot of rain, we have also been warned of much colder temperatures due to hit us by the end of this week so we usually have a fire on every night. Now Ewan has just bought a big bag of coal which I cannot open and I cannot lift to fill the bucket so unless I hand scoop it out the bag, I have no coal either. (and lets be realistic, I am not going to hand scoop it out.) So I have some large chunks of wood and some kindlers and some newspaper. So wish me luck as I try again. Probably the tenth time today.