Soldering:

Yes the iron has to be tinned (keep it clean and shinny)  but in a light solder job you can tin or tip tin the wires.  Solder flows "TO" the heat, so apply heat to a pretinned wire (you can also buy pretinned wire) and touch it to the circuit membrane and additional solder, as soon as it flows your done.  If this still doesn't work try a nowash solder on the parts and then dip them in a solder pot (pot full of liquid molten solder) before you dip them clear the slag off the top of the liquid solder (liquid molten solder should be shinny like mercury).  

If heat is really a difficult problem, strip the wire up an additional inch, heat the wire to get the solder to flow and then use heat shrink over the bear wire when you are finished.

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Tip: try soldering with the two items directly in front of you, one in front to the other so that your soldering iron hand comes in from one side and the solder comes in from the other and if you can get the work inclined toward you, you may find it easier to work on.  If you plan to/enjoy soldering circuitry get a few pairs of hemostats (?sp?) to hold the work, they work better than vice grips.

Jere
Bellingham, WA
90 GL
88 GL

or

90 GL - 88 GL = 2 GL's

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