I guess I have a different view on this. But that comes since I help my bro in law mill lumber for fun for the last 7-8 years.
1. get the bark off NOW. Bugs/fungus love this and can and will screw with your wood. Nothing like waiting all that time and wasting all your efforts to have wood fungus or powder post beetles who have chewed your wood. I would also make sure as much of the sawdust is off your boards as well.
2. While you are debarking, get some paint on the ends. Your other choices are wax emulsions that are for sale locally everywhere. Google it, very easy to find. The purpose is to SLOW drying from the ENDS of the logs, leaving more moisture in the center of the boards, warping, checking get worse if you don't do this. Expect checks on the ends, you will loose about 3-6 inches in total length normally.
3. Sticker them with 1" square lengths of low acid hardwoods. Poplar comes to mind. Using high tannic acids such as oak or softwoods such as pine will often react with the wood, discoloring it and causing issues.
4. 1" per year is a wives tale, but overall, pretty good since there are so many variables that for most that comes out about right. It has more to do with drying days and humidity level in those drying days. Again, google it if you want a ton more.
5. Leaving heart wood in or out is a personal decision, leaving the PITH (the very center of the tree) is often the worst part. You will get the most checks when you leave the pith in. Often the heartwood and sap wood will dry about the same time, but when the pith is in the board, that is when you get the worst checks.
6. "Shakes" not quite sure what you mean there, if you are referring to checks or splits in the wood ends, see above. Shakes are normally seen from high mph storms that give you "wind shakes" or other diseases or when you have a dominant wind direction. Shakes are when the vertical grain is abruptly ruptured and you will get horizontal cracks in a long board. Not see as a result of drying. You can get case hardening, but that is something all together different.
any other questions, post on up.