Pfft! Amateurs! A bunch of kids on the forum are whining about trying to get their English teachers to give them extra credit for writing a novel. Real novelists--even wannabe real novelists--don't expect to get anything in return for doing something that they love. My view is: if you want to write a novel, write it, but don't believe the real world will stop just because of you. Learn how to balance your work load. Yeah, that's a cruel assessment, but it's true.
Also, I absolutely hate the note card method. Everyone is gushing over it like there's no tomorrow. I'm assuming that's the case because a lot of people learn by note card method. I can't learn that way. What I do is read a chunk of text and just memorize the heck out of it. So how do I outline a plot? I do actual outlining. And maybe some free-writing. In a notebook. No note cards. Note cards tend to get lost and you only get to see one card at a time. Sure, you can rearrange them, but that requires space. And I never have space.
Besides, real geeks don't use note cards. Note cards are for wannabe-yuppies and self-absorbed artists who wear black all the time.
