The pool I am practicing with now isn't on a traditional table. I'm practicing on a WII. Other than the obvious, there are two major differences between a physical board and the pool set-up on the WII. My particular WII game only has nine balls and the only game you can play is one in which you have to hit the correct numeric ball first or it counts as a scratch. The second big difference is that you can't watch how the ball reacts throughout the table. The focus of the game is primarily on the cue ball.
Having nine balls makes the games go faster. However, not being able to watch the table action frustrates my learning. I want to know what to expect from the cue ball if I hit it say, lower left on the curve. How does it spin, arc, impact the other balls around it. On a real table I could take that ball and hit it over and over until I had it down in my brain how striking the cue ball in a particular spot impacts the outcome of the shot.
In writing we talk about rules - rules for creating story in three act structure, rules for punctuation, rules for formatting for submission. In photography there is the rule of thirds and a rule about centering and rules about action, macro, and portrait photographs.
Rules in artistic endeavors help the artist learn craft. It is akin to learning how to use a lathe before you turn it on to make a table leg. You have to know how to use the machinery first, mastering simple concepts and then putting it together in unique patterns through a lot of trial and error.
Somewhere along the line we've learned that success should be instantaneous.
Success is mainly the result of a lot of hard work. Work that is done day after day after day. One of my writing partners used to had BICHOK - Butt in Chair, Hands on Keyboard. She's correct. Stories don't just materialize - not the good ones. They are the result of a lot of bad ones. Nearly every author will tell you that the first book they completed they'd rather hide under their beds or in the back of a closet.
Why? They were learning the rules, honing their craft. Writing like many other endeavors is about practice, practice, practice. Rewriting, reworking, re-editing and getting up and doing it all over again the next day. You do this until you own the process. Once you own the process, understand how a thing happens, whether it is shooting a cue ball or editing a story, or shooting macro photography, the you can think about bending and breaking rules. First though, you need to know the rules, how they work and how to apply them.
You need to learn from masters, people who've gone ahead of you in a field of study. Pick their brains, ask a boat load of questions. Get into the mud with the nitty-gritty. You have to be willing to work in the garage like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. You have to be willing to crash your plane on the beach like the Wright brothers did at Kitty Hawk. You have to try, and try again to find the right
I once heard an author comment that it only took them twenty years to be an overnight success.
Success takes a lot of practice; being ready when the next opportunity presents itself. Louis Pasteur is credited with saying, "Chance favors the prepared mind." Preparation through practice and experience get one ready to seize the next opportunity to come their way.
I'll be a decent pool player some day, as long as I practice, practice, practice.
I've hit over seventy days of writing this blog. It's an important habit I'm cultivating. It not only clears my mind, but it disciplines me to write every single day. That is how I'm prepping my writing art. I'm sitting in a chair, with my hands on my keyboard typing away, getting the elements of story written as I practice them, knowing I'll be going through the work with an eye for improvement, and for taking heed of the advice of other more seasoned authors.
And when chance happens, say meeting an editor in an elevator, I'll be prepared.