A trick I always use....
I have a dummy midi track (it does not send midi to anything in Sonar, just a old piano module that I can hear thru my analogue mixer if I choose) with scratch melodies and chords. I view this in Staff View. When composing I can write myself notes in staff view using the "expression" lane...like "last Verse, Take strings Up an Octave"...or "see if Harry can sing this better than Bob"
Of course I do this with Markers also, but that gets too crowded usually.