lol, I LIKE hand flying. Practice trimming the airplane, once you get used to it, you'll realize how much easier flying becomes. That's all autopilots are anyway, they continuously trim the airplane. Of course, in long legs, autopilot is definitely welcome.
...as far as trim goes, use the
yoke to control the airplane, find a freeze attitude (i.e. freeze the horizon, visually), freeze that pressure on the yoke, and NEUTRALIZE that pressure with the trim...but
never fly the airplane w/ trim alone. It drives me crazy when my students like to have their hand on the trim wheel throughout the flight trying to pitch by using the trim wheel. I slap them for it.
edit: Something I've noticed that helps some people is using two fingers to control the pitch alone. For example, if the airplane requires back pressure to stay level, use two fingers, again as an example, your middle and ring finger to hold the back pressure. It helps out because you are more sensitive to changes in pressure when you are applying backtrim. If you're using a whole hand grip, you are less sensitive as you have five fingers to distribute the backpressure. I know it sounds weird but it has helped a lot of my students.