The Wonder Questions

4 questions with endless answers

Exactly one week from today, my new book THE FANTASTIC BUREAU OF IMAGINATION releases.

This is my least favorite part of the process. Every feeling possible swirls inside me. Excitement! Something I worked on for years will soon be out in the world! Terror! What if people don’t like it?! What if nobody gets it?! Normalcy! The dishwasher still needs to be unloaded!

It’s the waiting that gets to me. I can be really good at imagining the worst. Someone didn’t respond to an email immediately? They hate me. Or they died. Or they hate me and then they died.

My imagination has been a dear friend and cruel nemesis.

Really, this is one of reasons behind the book. Human beings can dream. We can conceptualize. We can envision possibilities. One of our greatest resources is *so* powerful, yet we use it for dreaming up worst-case scenarios and ways to hurt each other. Imagination is misused, malnourished, and wildly misunderstood.

“You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” - Mark Twain

Fear can knock my imagination out of focus. Stress and uncertainty can blur my vision. My creativity can become so clouded by forces outside my control, but I have found a way to break through it when this happens. For me, the answer has been … questions.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve asked The Wonder Questions of young people and not-so young people. It started as a way to spark discussions, but turned into actual doings. People’s answers have led to everything from parties to meals to renovations — even playgrounds.

1. I wonder who I could help?

2. I wonder what they might need?

3. I wonder who might team up with me?

4. I wonder how wonderful it could be?

Wonder is available at any time, but our default can easily become worry. These little questions pull us out of fear and into a place of love. We tap into compassion. We’re reminded we’re not alone.Possibility becomes possible again. Wonder can leads to truly wonderful places.

Sharing this today because it’s a reminder I’m needing. In this season of waiting and worrying, I’m in need of a return to wonder. There’s so much good we have yet to imagine together. May the best be yet to come.

p.s. Let me know what kind of journey these questions lead you on!

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A few ways you can help right now:

1. I need 100 classrooms!

I’m doing a free virtual author event live on Tuesday March 21 at 10 am cst. As we celebrate the release of The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination, I’m looking for 100 classrooms to join me! This can be experienced live on Zoom and YouTube. Registrants will also receive the link to view afterwards. Please pass this link on to anyone who works with kids: http://behindthebureau.com

2. Pre-order the book for yourself or an entire school!

You are fantastic. Already this book is an IndieNext Pick, an Amazon Editor's Choice, and something the School Library Journal calls "a great motivational tale to share with young artists, aspiring writers, and gifted education classes"! I hope this is a story that sparks millions more stories from the readers it finds.

YOUR EARLY SUPPORT OF THIS PROJECT IS HUGE! Thank you!

3. Come join us! We’d *love* to see you!

• Light Trap Books, our local bookstore, is throwing a launch party! It’s Tuesday March 21 from 4-7 pm in Jackson, Tennessee. More info here.

  

• We’ll be at Books Are Magic for Storytime in Brooklyn, NY on March 26 at 11 am. RSVP here!

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Your comments, emails, subscriptions, and support have been so incredible. Your responses to the last few weeks of this Substack have been massively encouraging to me. There’s so much going on. It means the world to be able to celebrate it and experience it with you. Thank you.