What works for me:
Don't use a plastic covered chart. You have to use a particular pen to write on it, another to write on other things, a pencil for the whiz wheel etc etc. Use a paper chart & a soft pencil (eg 2B - my preference. It's soft enough to write on the various things and hard enougth to last between sharpenings. 2B is also soft enough to be erased without harming the chart).
Draw the desired track. I don't bother with 10nm/20nm/6min/whatever markers. I use Track as Heading, TAS as Groundspeed on the plan to get ETIs. Sometimes I jot in the wind if it's significant or unusual.
In flight always get a fix at or near top of climb. This starts my groundspeed & 1:60 run. If I'm significantly off track half way up a longish climb then I'll do a 'double the track error' 1:60 then so that I arrive at TOC somewhere close to track.
At TOC & after each fix I look ahead of position on the chart & choose whatever feature I think will be appropriate for my next fix - usually about 20mins ahead but really depends on what's available. Then I work out my estimate there & sit back and do other things.
Approaching the pinpoint time it's the usual very big --> big --> small --> individual creek bends to pinpoint position. Prior to overhead it's possible to get sufficiently accurate info to pre-calculate the 1:60 track correction. Over the fix turn onto the new head & note the time. I choose where I wish to regain track & base my 1:60 closing angle on that
All fixes are marked on the chart with the dot/circle around it/minutes past the hour notation. I also use a square if it's a DR position or not really confirmed. That's so that later if nav. goes awry I won't fixate on it as an "I was definitely there" sort of thing.
After a fix I always check my G/s if the time is different from planned.
I use a range of nav. techiques, singly or in combination: Pinpoints, visual radio & running position lines, boundary features that would tell me if I've gone too far or too far off track, deliberate track error etc etc.
I plan descents at either 500 or 300'/min. 500'/min takes twice your height in thousands and call it minutes, 300'/min takes 3 times. Descent starts at that number of minutes before arrival. I usually add a couple of minutes to allow for deceleration if I'm doing a straight in approach. If visual I also use the sight angle to the destination as a reminder that a descent is due ie when the destination looks similar to a normal final approach profile then it's definitely time to descend.