HI, ok will try to help. do you know AF-ON? what is your DSLR? normall all DSLR can do AF-ON. it seperate focusing from shutter release. try it. i mean not only in macro. even in wildlife shooting. specially those that move and when your handheld. i got used to AF-ON around a month. initially you will not like using AF-ON. but once you see your shots getting better chance. you wont go back to the helf press shutter released :)
I did try on dead insects. its a good experiment. eventually, in the field shooting, once you got a good shot. the feeling is priceless.
you can do it. am 50+ yrs old already. shooting quite often around oct 2014 till now. but got the dslr 2007. you just need to relax and sped some time and effort more.
what i did is there's a park near my home. maybe 200 meters away. lots of trees and grass. depends on season. i go there maybe 2-3 hrs a day. morning is best and sunset. more insects and birds during those time. after 2-3hrs i go home knowing i have 250 shots. 2GB SDcard is enough .