1. Choose a personal goal.  Not everyone is a 50K in a month writer.  If you can’t do it, don’t stress it.  Figure out an attainable goal, then add 10K words to it.  Is it an intelligent idea to decide to write a 100K novel in a month?  If you’ve never written one, probably not.  but, hey!  It’s all you.
2. Have a speed writing session.  Do you have to get together?  If you live close to each other, sure.  Otherwise, yahoo groups, IM’s and phone conversations work well!
3. Have a plan.  An outline helps a LOT.  At least a road map.  A character profile or two…even if it’s Riddick from Pitch Black, it doesn’t matter, just start with a character! 
4. Commit at least 500 words a day.  If you’ve decided on a 50K novel…that should be closer to 1800 a day.  But let me warn you, you weekend warriors you…catching up on the weekend or “day off” never happens the way you want it to.  So don’t rely on weekend extra time.  I guarantee that’s when your in-laws, cousins, best friends, etc will stop by “just to chat,” work will decide that project that needed to be completed in two months should be done NOW, your best friend will decide May is the perfect month to get married and you JUST HAVE to do everything with her, including buying a dress for the ceremony in two weeks and suddenly the world will come to a screeching halt if you’re not there to bake cookies for some fund raiser.  Trust me, it’s been three days into the month of May and I’ve had ALL of these things happen to me.  ALL of them, except the in-law visit.  *cheeky grin*.  Just the best friends, cousins, and whomever else decided we hadn’t hung out in a while.    
5. Have a day of judgement.  Mwahahahah.  Nothing hurts like having to fess up to a week of laziness.  :-)  Post your wins/failures.  Be supportive and rib each other often. 
6. Be serious about your intentions.  Don’t half-ass it or you’ll feel like a failure and pretend it didn’t matter that much to you. 
7. Inform those who love you that you’ll be “hibernating” for the month.  If you have an office in the flow of traffic, have a NANO signal…a fuzzy red cowboy hat, a set of alien antennae, a bobble-headed taco bell dog statue on your desk.  SOMETHING that lets them know you don’t exist outside the universe you’ve created.
8. Don’t edit!  This isn’t the month to do that.  Just WRITE.
9. Let your story explode across the pages.  If your characters decide to romp across a field…let it HAPPEN.
10. Learn to love the line <insert sex, more emotion, or blah blah, here>.  It pushes you past the rough spots so you can come back later. 
11. Remember to REWARD yourself.  If you work your butt off, non-stop, for a month, you’d better have a light at the end of the tunnel that makes it worth it, or you’ll never do it again!
12. Encourage each other.  I can’t stress how important it is to be encouraging.
13. Invite everyone you know to participate or act as a cheer session.  If you’re going to be insane for a month, why not let everyone know about it? 

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

2. My collection of notebooks - I’ve written in all of them so I have NO idea where my actual notes are, but don’t try and take them! I bite. (last count-7 books, none of them full)

3. Empty soda cans - I’m a Mt. Dew junkie. I ADMIT IT!!! That being said, I have NO idea why I can’t make the short trip to the kitchen trash, or pick them up when I go to the kitchen, but there you go.

4. A set of 10 different colored highlighters - Who needs that many highlighters? I’m a color-coding organizer, but still!!!

5. A picture of someone else’s kid - A friend’s actually. I was supposed to take it to work, but it’s still sitting here, waiting patiently for me to acknowledge it.

6. Novels - I have four novels on my desk. 2 of which I’ve read in the past six months and the other two I wall-thumped but kept them. Maybe as some type of horrific torture…One of those “Does it still hurt to read…*gusty sigh* Yes, it still hurts” kind of thing.

7. Chocolate - I love chocolate, in every dark variety. So why do I have 3 boxes of chocolate, unopened, sitting here and staring at me? (speaking of which *crinkle tear crinkle nibble* I love Chocolate Truffle!)

8. My need to have writing reference books by me at all times - At this point my desk has spread to the surrounding furniture. I don’t open them (usually). Some of them I haven’t even looked through.

9. A knitting stitch counter - Now for those who craft and write in their “office” that’s not strange…until you realize I don’t KNIT. I don’t know how to knit. I’ve never knitted in my life! I wouldn’t mind learning, but until life slows down, it won’t happen. LOL. My stepdaughter, however, does. Hmmm, maybe I can give it to her.

10. 3 pen drives - why in the world would I need THREE, when ONE of them is 1 gig? *sigh*

11. Totes - I have three totes (1 backpack and 2 shoulder carriers) by my desk. Once again, why?

12. Collection of Headbands - Hmm, I’d wondered where those went.

13. IPOD Mini - It doesn’t work now. Next to it is a remote control kit and cover. I don’t know why it’s sitting here. I haven’t tried to get it repaired. I don’t have any intention of getting it repaired. *sigh* I need to clean my desk. LOL.

I may clean it off, or not. Now that I’ve noticed the mess, it’s bothering me, but what do I do with it? Any suggestions would be helpful. LOL. Of course, that doesn’t include (with the exception of the mt. dew cans) throwing it away. LOL.