I write pseudocode on paper before I implement anything, and it has helped me tremendously. In fact, I think programming on paper encourages nonlinear programming. You can DRAW! Use lines and arrows to code blocks. Sure, it might get messy, but doing it on paper gives you a better idea of how your algorithm should work. You make less mistakes because making a mistake is more costly (you have to erase/mark out the mistake), so you tend to be more careful.