Ask the Author: Sascha Haselmayer
Answered Questions (3)
Sascha Haselmayer
Often, the hardest part is to find a good story, one in which all the pieces come together and where there is a true, actual insight can share. That requires a lot of research and exploring the meaning in different ways. It also took me a very long time to find my voice, after years of writing strategy and policy documents. I tackled that by spending a few minutes every day just starting to write about the story I am working on, taking different angles and starting points. This is just sketching. I also tell these stories over family meals to Julia and our daughters, trying out different ways of building the narrative. Their feedback is invaluable, there is nothing like the honesty in a teenager's reaction! After that, I find, things begin to flow. But I like to revisit these stories after a few weeks or months, and will continue to tinker with them as I get some distance and discover new angles or facts.
Sascha Haselmayer
I am very fortunate to have a career in which I work alongside the most extraordinary people and movements. I draw my inspiration in large part from the creativity and humanity of these people, who organize change all around us—not for people, but with people. Also, I get inspired to write spending time with my daughters. The stories I share, are stories that I hope will inspire young people like them to look differently at their role in the world. I don't believe much in giving fatherly advice at all, but I think stories like these will stay with my readers and help them to contribute to the change they wish to see.
Sascha Haselmayer
The Slow Lane is the result of a lot of inner work. For over twenty years, I had rushed from place to place, helping communities solve their problems faster. Incidentally, when I first decided to write the book, it was to be called The Quick Fix! But my body quite literally rebelled, I couldn't do it. That triggered a process of deep reflection, and I began to unravel what was wrong with rushing to action, looking for big bold fixes. And in that process, I connected the dots of my own experiences in a different way, one that made a lot more sense.
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