I prefer to use a really thin paper that I can see the line on both sides. I also crease all the lines before I sew. When I first started, I even wrote all the numbers down on the "flip" side. And, I still glue the first piece down and occasionally glue other pieces on the seam line before flipping to sew so that they don't fold up or move on me. I know some of the tutorials actually pin the fabric to the paper but my sewing machine loves to eat pins so I avoid them and most definitely will not put them where I can't keep an eye on them. I've had to fish them back out of my sewing machines' gullets more than once and I don't want to do it any more!
I found the Kansas Dugout/Hole in the Barn Door pattern most helpful when I was learning. Log Cabin will still mess me up with the light/dark changes unless I do it one block at a time which really slows the process down but with paper-piecing, speed isn't what you're going for anyway.