I hit the 4 year mark this past Saturday.

4 Years ago I took on a full-time writing job and have been working my tail off ever since. No I’m not a New York Times best-selling author who lives in New York, writing about falling leaves and glistening ponds.

That ideal is what most people think of when they hear the words: full time writer.

But not all writing jobs are the same. I do technical writing for a local company, work for a small indie magazine, have my own column, and numerous freelance jobs.

I don’t get to work from home.

I have a desk at an office and everything (which I used to hate the idea of-but kind of love and see the necessity now).

Most writers want the dream: Torturing themselves working at home living in some remote area.

I just want my work to have its place among readers, publishers, and the writing community.

So instead of listing a bunch of boring tips on “how to make your writing perfect” (something that never works because perfection is a fallacy), I want to rattle off all I learned:

1. Writing quotes are all jokes that should be read as sarcasm.
2. Desks are altars which should be prayed at, worked upon, eaten atop, and decorated with nonsense to remind writers that life is not just found in words; life is what happens before you find the words to describe it. 
3. Luck charms work, but not if you’re an asshole. 
4. Writers are surgeons who must study their craft, constantly update their skills, know what to cut, when to sew, how to map out their plans, and when to accept the death of a work.
5. How you treat others matters almost as much as how talented you are.
6. Talent is a joke, without hard work and understanding talent means nothing…unless you’re either famous or related to someone famous (of course).  
7. Words are just words, but words are NOT just words.
8. Paychecks are better than royalties but royalties are more fun. 
9. A writer has to write what others wish to read, which is NOT always what they want to write.  
10. Windows are traps that stall writing but also inspire worlds that may be hiding.