Tricks of the Trade

A good friend of mine runs a painting business and I recently began working for him. It's a pretty fun gig. We talk about baseball, or our kids, or music or beer. Good stuff. A fun job is all about who you work with. Right now we're painting the interior of a large house in Medford. He's been showing me how to hold a paintbrush properly, which is towards the bristles, with all four fingers on the shiny metal thing, called the ferrule. My friend has been painting for 20 years, and his technique is flawless and fast.

His proper-holding advice totally reminded me of a knife. Once upon a time, I worked as a prep cook in a restaurant. This was a pretty well-known place out in Berkeley, California. They did breakfast and lunch, and everyday there was a ton of hungry customers lined down the block. There was an old woman working there, named Mary. She taught me the proper way to hold a chef's knife. She showed me how to keep the sharp tip on the cutting board, and bring the handle/tang down. There was a rhythm you needed to find, which could increase greatly with practice. Meanwhile, the hand holding the veg kept all the fingertips pointed down, and tucked away from the edge of the knife.

Those are some simple yet effective tricks of the trade. Every trade has them, right?

Then I got thinking about writing. I've been a freelance writer off and on for over ten years, so I should know some tricks, right? Nope. Not one comes to mind.

Some older writers might say proper typing, but I don't type in that style at all. Who does? Other writers might say that routine helps, and that's true. I prefer to write first thing in the morning. But all jobs have that hourly routine thing going, that's no trick either. And don't say practice -- every job does that too. Cheap novel series like "The Boxcar Children" certainly follow a formula. But a formula isn't a trick, it's more like a format, or brand consistency.

So where/when do the tricks of the trade come into play for writing? What am I missing? Have I been missing an easy trick the whole time? Or do I need to write for another ten years before I figure it out?

Maybe these tricks are the difference between white collar and blue collar. There's no trick to programming computers, or teaching, or graphic design, or law... right? Or is there?