I just saw Letters to a Young Scientist by Edward O. Wilson in a bookstore yesterday and am very tempted to read it. It seems like a great read for anyone interested in pursuing science (not specifically chemistry) as a career.
I think the take away here, one that I learned in my undergraduate research from both the group before me and the one that came after, your "failures" are not necessarily failures, but successes at learning what does and doesn't work towards the hypothesis you're testing. And from what I've seen at research conferences, not much can EVER be finished in 8 weeks, let alone a semester or even a year of research. A lot of papers from my alma mater's organic lab had names of students that had contributed and graduated years before it was finally submitted.
EDIT: There was a book I picked up a while back when I had that panic that every young scientist experiences, that his/her contributions are meaningless or you're overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of your chosen field, and it was a great, encouraging (and pretty cheap) read. http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Young-Scientist-Edward-Wilson/dp/0871403854/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436544881&sr=8-1&keywords=letters+to+a+young+scientist