NaNoWriMo: be prepared!

NaNoWriMo starts in just a little over 24 hours. How to prepare for the month-long frenzy? 
This is what I did the year I won:

• told everyone you are doing it, so I couldn't back out
• patiently explained to my wife what I had to do and how it'll keep me in total isolation a few hours a day
• turned off the TV (well, I never had one, but all similar distractions should be powered down)
• rented a cabin in Kernville for Thanksgiving (if you've been to Kernville, you know why. Watch out for cabin fever)
• sharpened my technological pencils. Knew what tools to use for max effectiveness from day 1. More on this topic in the days to come.
  
• scheduled my day around it. I still had a day (and night) job, so  I’d spend 60 minutes of my lunchtime on it, every late night I wrote notes to develop the day after.
• Reminded myself every day to forgive my bad form and lack of interesting plot, and above all,  that I signed up for NaNoWiMo for FUN.

It was a great time. I proved to myself I could write a whole novel, and never stopped writing regularly since. Forget about the (likely poor) quality of the output. There are things you learn to internalize in such a month-long effort that stay with you forever.