Clutter's not clutter when you display it, right?

This summer, I ordered a 3' by 5' pinboard for my office. It seemed gigantic when it arrived.

But I'm filling it up.

Yes, I am.

Ooh, shiny. 

Author Technique of the Week

At Nancy's Blog, SF author Nancy Kress reports this useful tip from Eeriecon:

Joe Haldeman offered that it's very difficult, perhaps impossible, to horrify any more with your aliens: "MEN IN BLACK ruined that." Carl Frederick said that in order to discover what vowels his undersea aliens would favor, he tried sticking his head into a basin of water and talking there.

Hey! I used to do that as a kid at the community pool. I also used to pretend that I had one hand tied to one foot, and had to swim the length of the pool to freedom. I did it, too.

Right now, I'm testing out a new approach to a WIP that I had shelved and now want to revive: rewriting it as a novel in verse. I'm worried, because I'm having way too much fun. Isn't writing supposed to be work?

What's the strangest thing you ever did to try out an idea?