You can also use the electrician's trick of nailing a piece of conduit between two wall studs and putting the spool on the conduit. Use two step ladders when feeding through joists, and have one feed wire through to the other, leap-frog a step ladder, etc. After running the wires, staple them to the studs to avoid getting a wire pinched between the drywall and the stud. For individual cables, I found the Arrow T-59 stapler invaluable. I also used the metal electrical wire staples, but didn't drive them deep enough to pinch the cable.
Staple cables close to outlet boxes to also reduce the possibility of lost cables.
Drywall installers will push the wires out the back of the box to get them out of their way. I also put little sandwich baggies over the cable ends in each box after wiring to prevent texturing and plaster from messing up the cables and labeling. Stuff all cable ends completely into the boxes to avoid damage during drywall. Dry wall installers are notorious for hiding anything they can behind the dry wall. The nail with the wire is a more sure indication that the wire must be brought through the wall.