Freedom to Think

Hello everyone! Wow, it’s been ages since I
wrote anything here. That’s because I’ve had a hectic few months – with two big things keeping me from blogging
for a while.

The first thing is the arrival of my new
son, Louis, who was born at the end of May. Suddenly life’s become a whirlwind
of nappy changing, high-pitched squeaks, and being kept awake at 3 a.m. – all
of which is surprisingly good fun.

The second thing is that I’ve been busy
finishing the new Lockwood book, The
Hollow Boy. I’m really excited about it, and am delighted to say it’s off
at the printers now. It’ll be out in the UK and US in September this year.

Now everything’s settling down, and it’s
time to do some blogging again. It feels great to be back.

And I’m back with something very special –
a new campaign that I’m launching
this summer. It’s close to my heart and is (I think) very important: and I need
your help to spread the word.

It’s called Freedom to Think, and it’s all about promoting free time for young
people everywhere. Why is this important? Because free time is an essential
component for developing creativity and independent thought. And not enough
kids have that luxury today.

As a father of two (now three!), I’ve
noticed that many children have very little free time. After getting home from
school, their hours are filled with homework, clubs, sports, music lessons, and
many other organised activities. Of course it’s great to do all these things,
but having ‘empty’ time is vital too, time when they’re just left to
themselves. Why? Because it’s in moments like this that kids learn to be bored,
and – crucially – when they learn what to do
with that boredom.

Having nothing to do is the perfect
starting point for inventing something to fill that gap. It’s only then that
you start improvising and messing about… which is precisely when the creative
spark ignites. If that isn’t exciting enough, this creativity leads to greater
self-knowledge too. By following your nose, by doing what excites and interests
you, you begin to uncover who you actually are.

It worked for me, anyhow. When I was a kid
I spent countless hours doing all kinds of weird stuff, mainly involving lots
of drawing and writing. I tried making comics, stories and board-games, some of
which were good, and some of which weren’t. Steadily, over many years, I began
homing in on the kinds of things that I liked inventing. Looking back on it,
there’s a direct line from these childhood scribblings to Bartimaeus and
Lockwood – genies and ghosts featured often in those early days.

But my trajectory – towards becoming a
writer – is only one of countless routes that kids can take. Engineers,
musicians, scientists… there’s no limit to what each child might be… but they
need free time to figure it out for themselves.

To remind us of the importance of free
time, I’m launching the Freedom to Think
campaign. The idea is to encourage parents to make space – at least once a week
– for their child to have a real period of free time. There’s no agenda
regarding what they DO in this gap – that’s the point! – but on the Freedom to Think website, we’re posting
monthly suggestions of possible freewheeling activities that might get things
started. We’ll also toss in other ideas for things to do, and will be making
links to other sites that promote freedom of thought and action.

So why not visit us at www.freedomtothinksite.tumblr.com
and follow us on twitter at @iamfree2think, and let us know your ideas and
thoughts. Did free time help inspire YOU? Is it still an important part of your
life? Let us know! Meanwhile I’ll also update you on the progress of the
campaign here.