I haven’t really played RPGs solo before, but I’ve heard several people say they’ve used 2400 and other games based on the same system (24XX) for it. Someone else has even made special guidelines for 24XX solo play.
As for whether you’re getting it right: Some games have intricate rules, and they really work excellently when you use them. And some other games have very minimal rules, basically trusting that everybody already knows how to play pretend, and as long as you’re putting your fellow participants’ wellbeing before getting the rules “right,” you are doing just fine. 🙂