This is generally how I work...generally speaking
I don't really have a set routine for working because each art work is so different but usually, I don't much care for preliminary sketching. I do think hard about each image and then one day it is ready to come out of my brain and into the block. I like to go "on site" to study my subjects and either sketch right on the block or take plenty of reference photos (hiking with six 16"x20" blocks in my backpack was impractical). Once I have looked at the reference materials enough, I work from memory and freely employ my artistic license (hangs on my wall in the studio) to alter reality.

I sketch on the block with a humble standard pencil, study the composition and then I go over the drawing with sumi ink and a round brush. The ink makes the image loose and fresh and more resembling of what the final woodcut will be. I further develop the image with the chisels once I begin cutting; nearly all the details are worked out at this time.

To answer the two most frequently asked questions: YES, I do cut myself on occasion, but never when doing a woodcut; and, YES, I do make mistakes, plenty of them, most of the time I just change the design on the fly...or as a last resort, that's why wood filler was invented.