I had a revelation last night. I was playing the X-Wing miniatures game with some buddies, good game you should check it out, and had to sit out the first round of games because I arrived late. So I did what my kendo sensei calls "looking and learning practice". I watched two of my buddies play the game and realized that what my one buddy was trying to do was create what I'll call the "magic bullet" squadron list.
The "magic bullet' is thus: a list that guarantees success despite the player's relative lack of experience, a list or combination that guarantees success no matter how incompetent the player.
You can guess what happened:
Now my buddy isn't a bad player but both he and I have only been playing the game for a few weeks. Unlike him I've discovered that what makes for a good game isn't looking for that one "magic bullet" to make your list formidable but rather you need to build a flexible list with options and learn and practice maneuvering around the playing field. Of the two, leaning to maneuver better will serve a player best in the long run.
Okay, so you're probably wondering what the hell this has to do with anything. Well, life and writing and all of it is very muck like a game of X-Wing. If you keep searching for that "magic bullet" you're wasting time that could be better spent learning how to maneuver.
No one thing is going to make your life perfect. Getting that degree or job or partner won't make you complete. What will make your life better is learning how to deal with the rocks and missiles fired your way, how to pick yourself up off the ground after life knocks the shit out of you. Learning how to never give up.
It's taken me a long time to realize this. Is my life perfect? Nope, but it's mine to live and I'm going to keep on learning how to dodge and weave and keep picking myself up when I fall.
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