Writer's Fallout Shelter

I did use to write "organically," keeping all the ideas in my head, too, but speaking from experience, there is something to be said for jotting things down and looking at them from a new perspective, however minimal the notes are. It helps keep the goals, objectives, milestones, and the points you need to cover firmly in mind.

About the notecards, I was talking to the writing group member who introduced them to us and this is what she said about their purpose:

Yes, notecards are a form of outlining. Each card represents a necessary scene in the book. Start with the 10 key scene. (This individual works on the premise that a minimum of key ten scenes are required to have enough happening to be a novel. We can discuss that more later.) As new scenes occur, add cards and stick them between existing scenes. It's like telling the story to yourself in miniature and leaving a trail of breadcrumbs as you go, so when you sit down to write, you can look at the breadcrumbs and find way through the forest of the book.