Cynthia Kuhn

Just wondering. Again.

Let’s begin by establishing that I am a person who wonders about things quite a lot. My husband, who is much calmer than I am in practically every way (unless he’s watching sports), has helped me realize that not everyone has the need to question, like, everything.

It’s useful in some ways–I believe that being curious about something is a genuine path to discovery.

And authors certainly need to ask questions as they create characters, worlds, and stories.

However, it is possible to become overwhelmed and distracted by too many random questions as well. I’m always walking that line and it takes a great deal of energy.

For example, in high school, all that talk about mathematical givens nearly drove me (and probably my teacher) mad.

Teacher: This is the given.
Me: Why is it a given?
Teacher: Because it is. It’s already known.
Me: By whom?
Teacher:
Me:
Teacher:
Me: I don’t understand. Is there a council somewhere who decides and why do they get to decide?
Teacher: Just write it down.
Me: Can anyone decide? Could we decide? And what kind of math is this we’re doing, anyway?
Teacher: We haven’t even started yet. Not one single bit of math has taken place.

Or if I’m trying to buy something–say an umbrella–I wonder about why one this umbrella is more expensive than that one so I Google it and somehow, four hours later, I’ve soaked up everything there is to know about umbrella construction materials and internal mechanisms but I still don’t know which one I want to buy.

So these are the things I’m wondering about today (granted, they’re not earth-shattering or anything…just buzzing around):

  • Why isn’t anyone else in the house inspired to carry things UP the stairs when the things are already waiting ON the stairs? Do the things become invisible when other humans approach?
  • Why hasn’t anyone invented all the things they had in The Jetsons yet? By now, we should be able to go to work in a glass-bubble-topped spaceship that folds up into a briefcase, then take the moving sidewalk right to our desk!

And now I’m wondering…what are you wondering about these days? 

54 thoughts on “Just wondering. Again.”

  1. I’m wondering why no one else in the house can put dishes into the dishwasher – or take them out when they are clean for that matter!

    At least people do occasionally take the things left on the stairs upstairs – eventually.

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    1. Eight days, my goodness! I hope that the sun breaks through today, JC.

      Just had a flashback to how, when the kids were little, they loved to jump into every puddle, big or small–and how joyful it was. (Had completely forgotten about that–something about your description brought it back–thank you!) Wishing you a happy puddle jump, in any case.

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  3. My mother, Mary Anne, used to ask things like, “Whatever happened to sonic booms?” and “Why did the Denver Broncos pick orange and blue for their team colors?” It was constant and hilarious and sometimes annoying. Now, when I ask certain questions my husband looks at me and says, “I don’t know, Mary Anne…”

    I guess there are some people born who have an extra gene for curiosity!

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    1. Oh, thank you for sharing. Those are GREAT questions. I definitely would have liked Mary Anne! 🙂

      *Now will have to Google why the Denver Broncos picked orange and blue…
      *Also: who is in charge of deciding sports team colors?
      *And: what happens if a team picks a color that another team already has?
      *And: how are color combinations decided for high schools too?

      Very interesting…

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  6. Gee Cynthia, you sound like a writer with all that wondering.
    I’m working on a Sherlock Holmes story for my upcoming book, and I’m wondering what time of day low tide was on August 8, 1877. No matter that I’m writing fiction. – gotta get the facts straight, right? And if I just make it up (it’s fiction, remember, you can do that), then somebody’s gonna know and call me on it, right?

    Tom Burns

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  7. Cynthia, I am your twin in wondering! We could ask each other Important Questions forever. Wish you’d been in 9th grade geometry with me, when my teacher pointed out that I had not, in fact, listed all the necessary steps from the back of the textbook to prove various theorems. (I think that’s what they were?) And I said, Oh, those were all so obvious, so why can’t we use just 2 or 3 steps? Boy, did he look annoyed (and likely thought I was the dimmest student he’d ever taught). But he couldn’t really explain, and thankfully for the world, my brilliant math career was over by junior year.

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  8. I’m wondering if wondering about everything is a female thing, or is it a writer thing? I wonder about everything–or at least, I thought I did until I read your post, Cynthia. I’ve never wondered about umbrella materials. I do wonder about math, though. Like, what is this program my granddaughter uses to input her math homework on, and why does my daughter think I’ll never figure it out? Can I sit and be supportive without having to actually help her with the new weird way they do math? Why did it have to change from the old way? And are the invisible things on their stairs the same type of things that are on your stairs? LoL.

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    1. Oh, Mary, YES! Great questions. I especially love the sit-and-be-supportive without having to DO math the new way! (Why DID they change it? The old math way worked perfectly fine and was also practical and immediately applicable.)

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  10. When I read your post, Cyn, I thought I was reading about me. All my life I’ve wondered WHY? about most everything.

    I drove my parents and teachers mad with all my queries (and got kicked out of Music Appreciation class in high school by a teacher who was irate that I had the gall to question something he said about the Classical period of music), and I now drive Robin nuts asking “but why?” when she’s trying to show me how to do some sort of maintenance project around the house.

    So sorry, everyone. But I do think it’s a great trait for someone who writes mysteries….

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    1. Leslie, you’re so right–we need it for mysteries! And I wish all of us curious kiddos knew each other back in the day so we didn’t feel alone in driving everyone mad by asking why why why..but if anyone ever acts like you are asking too many things nowadays, please just remember that some of us out here LOVE that you ask your wonderful questions!!

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    2. I was a “why” kid, too, Leslie. I’ve often wondered am I a writer because I’m curious, or curious because I’m a writer?

      My kids still laugh when they’d say something innocuous about their day—there was a new kid on the bus—and I would pepper them with 7,000 questions about him while they just stared at me. “I don’t know, Mom. He was on the bus, that’s all I know.” And my daughter always tags me in this meme about knowing everything about a person in 1 hour.

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  11. Yes, things do become invisible. It’s why I’ve gone off to work, leaving my lunch by the front door. (In case you are looking for something new to wonder about, you can wonder why I did that at random once a year or so but did just find the rest of the time grabbing my lunch on the way out the door.)

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    1. Only once a year? That’s pretty impressive, Mark! Maybe you subconsciously wondered what else you might be able to have for lunch instead.

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    2. Ah, that could be a plot point. Someone forgets to grab their cell phone/id card/something else important and then they can’t get where they’re going or just miss being blown up when a bomb goes off at their office because they go back for the item or…Okay, getting a little wild here, but you get my drift.

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  12. There’s a gazillion things I wonder about and am super thankful for Google until I start wondering if Google really has the correct answers or not. My biggest wonder today has been why can’t I ever spell the word definitely right? Every single time, I have to click on the squiggly red line underneath it and let spellcheck fix it for me. Why does my brain refuse to learn that one?

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    1. Totally understand, Paula. I have a couple of words like that too. And you raise a most excellent point: Google is such a gift for wonderers. Back in the day, we would wonder stuff and not be able to search it up at all!

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  13. Oh my…I wake up wondering….will I see ‘acceptance’ on a few emails…or just one. If one, will that inspire me to quit wondering if I’ll get another one. It goes on and on. But…my worse, painful wondering is ‘when will we get to a better place in the world’? It’s an awful wonder thought. It tells too much about current events.
    And so, I find it easier to just accept that I wonder too much about writing projects and whether one acceptance will make me wonder less or more!

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