The hands-on game designer
If you tried to create some paper prototypes, you might have found answers to your questions. If you did right, you might also have even more questions.
One question could be: does it really work like this? Absolutely yes.
Prototyping is about discovering, trying, and making mistakes. If you don't try, you will never learn. The next step would be trying to create something in the digital world. Here things become tougher because you might not have any programming skills and probably not even know where to start. Mark these words: by learning how to use a game engine and program basic game mechanics and small prototypes, you will be ahead of any aspiring game designers who don't have this skill.
This is the real skill that will always give you an edge over the thousands of other designers that will be competing with you for the few design roles available in the game industry. Reading and studying is the bare minimum, so don't think that by reading this and many other...