Water the pile as you build it and keep an eye on it. If it's too wet, you'll know real fast - an ammonia smell, flies, and a gooey mess will appear. If it's too dry, nothing will happen. The organic material you've carefully shredded, piled, and mixed will just sit there. A compost pile needs water to get the nitrogen working.
Air is essential in a healthy compost pile.
Leave air holes from the sides and bottom. Leave the top open to the elements unless you expect a raging rain storm which will wash away nutrients from the bottom of the pile. Some of the things you don't need in a compost pile are fertilizer, manure, lime, and commercial activator. If you're determined to have usable compost in a month, you'll have to turn the pile once a week, moving the cool material to the interior of the pile and allowing it to heat up to 140 . If you're doing this to reduce the amount of organic material going into your garbage and into the landfill, just keep adding to the pile and leave it alone.