When the pandemic hit, Todd Doughty began making lists on Instagram of things that made him happy – and as a community started to build up around it, he realized that staying connected to everyday joys mattered more than ever before. LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE combines the best of Doughty’s happy-making things with new ideas, essays, and prompts, alongside charming illustrations by Josie Portillo.
Doughty’s ideas range from the broad (Knowing your worth) to the hyper-specific (David Bowie’s recording of “As the World Falls Down”). He takes inspiration from food (Dunking an Oreo in a glass of milk until it becomes a bit soft; The glow of the fridge when searching for a midnight snack), nature (A stroll through the park at dusk, just as the crickets start to hum; Dipping your fingers in water to shape the final touch on the sandcastle), community (A good friend who gives it to you straight; Guests who arrive right on time), and pop culture (Bryan Burrough’s February 2016 Vanity Fair article, “The Mystery of the Maltese Falcon”; June Cleaver’s pearls; Tina Turner, national treasure). He’s incorporated special editions for things like graduation and the ‘80s; playlists; and short essays on everything from small towns to road trips to Templeton from Charlotte’s Web. Doughty even has suggestions for “Things You Might Consider Doing Today,” like eating breakfast outside, listening to Zadie Smith’s Fresh Air interview, or watching a Christopher Guest movie.
Readers are sure to find something to smile at, to appreciate, or to explore further in LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE, and to be inspired to consider their own small joys.
LITTLE PIECES OF HOPEis such an uplifting book to read–through good times and bad. What inspired you to make these lists? Do you think you would have written a book like this if not for the impact of COVID-19 in the last year?
How this all came about can be laid squarely at the feet of my Metronorth commute: On my March 11, 2020 train ride home –the day the WHO declared a global pandemic –I started crafting a list of “happy-making things in a difficult world.” It was a random, scattershot, zig-zag catalogue of stuff that brings me joy: “Newly sharpened pencils. Stephen King’s Twitter. Someone forgiving you. Any movie of Katharine Hepburn’s, especially her entrance in THE LION IN WINTER. An extremely green grasshopper. E.L. Konigsburg’s FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER. Long walks. Fat goldfish.”
That little list was a bright spot at the beginning of a very scary and rapidly changing time, and after that, I just kept going.And going. And going. The fact that everything is now curated together –with Josie Portillo’s gorgeous art and Sabrina Bowers’s genius design –along with new essays, playlists and about 50% entirely original lists into a book is beyond anything I could have imagined last March.
Your project began on Instagram –what kind of a reaction did you get from your followers? How was the writing process different once you started to collect your thoughts in book form?
The comments started percolating immediately and it was such a feeling of connection to see folks respond and/or start to add their own items, thoughts, memories to each individual list. There’s a fine line between remembrance and discovery, and each one of those new comments created that shared spark between us (and more than once I thought “I should have thought of that one!”). Once the book sold, I took an Instagram break from late August to October to keep writing in earnest –the isolation was a bit strange, like hitting the mute button on that communal dialogue. But that will (hopefully) pick back up with the reader and my hope is that each of the new 16 essays –longer pieces ranging on everything from red velvet cake to taking the leap to living life like Mary Bailey (from IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE) –resonate as much as the lists themselves.
Your lists are so immersive and touching to read, and you manage to avoid repeats and to draw from all aspects of life –from delicious foods to pop culture touchstones to the natural world. How long did it take you to make the lists, and did you ever get stuck?
I tried very hard to avoid repeats–I wrote nearly everything on my iPhone in Notes, so I was able to look up something to make sure that it wasn’t previously included. The element of surprise–connecting the dots or bridging that gap between the nearly 3000 items that comprise the book –was essential, and there’s a definite rhythm. LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE is a book you can dip into or read in progression. It’s left to the reader’s schedule or whim. And I didn’t really ever get stuck because I am a packrat and Saver of Things –articles, postcards, CDs, photos, books, objects, etc. –and that nature of collecting helped me curate the book because I curate my life. There were also daily inspirations: hearing a song on the radio, seeing a painting online, looking at the books on the shelf, cleaning the apartment, watching a favorite sitcom. And knowing that I was doing a list everyday (or so) kept me grounded in an extremely disrupted world. Each one took about two hours, but it was pure joy for me.
There’s one name that comes up more than once in LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE, and that’s Lin-Manuel Miranda. What is it about LMM that makes him a pinnacle of delight for you?
I’m a Broadway nut –I wrote a fan letter to Michael Crawford in high school when he was starring in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (he wrote back!); brought flowers to Katharine Hepburn at her townhouse door my first week in New York (she wrote back!); and saw the original cast of RENT six times. Theater is an escape for me –you enter a room with 1300 other strangers and share the same experience for three hours and then it’s gone, except in your memory (and on the cast album).Once the lists began, I started adding Lin-Manuel Miranda as a coda to each post because his work on Broadway and beyond (and Twitter feed) radiates happiness.
There’s been much written about the health benefits of a positive mental outlook and how optimism can help reduce anxiety and stress. What did you gain from meditating on these everyday joys? Do you feel your own mental health benefitted from this project?
Like pretty much everyone I know, I’ve had my ups and downs(sometimes well-deep)during the past 18 months. But something a friend of mine once said has stuck with me over the years: “Everyone is carrying an invisible bag of rocks.” I believe that, and whether you are going through a challenging time in life or just having a plain old bad day, try to think about that one (or more) touchstone that gets you through: the song, painting, recipe, memory, photograph, sitcom, movie, person, thing or book. Cling to your little piece of hope as best you can.
What do you feel reflecting on these happy-making things can give us as we move forward in life? Do you consider this type of list-making to be therapeutic in its own right, something you will continue to do as a daily mental exercise?
I had a heck of a lot of fun building these lists and writing the book, and I hope that sense of play is felt in the experience(and again, in Josie’s art and Sabrina’s design). And if this book lightens a reader’s burden for just a moment, then mission accomplished. On the daily front, I’ve started doing this thing before I fall asleep: I think of five good things that happened in the past 24 hours and picture them written on a yellow Post-It Note. It’s a nice little coda to the day: a little quintet of happy-making things and then you start all over again tomorrow.
You’ve worked in publishing for over twenty years, and in your day job, you’re the deputy publisher of Doubleday. What’s it like to be on the other side of things as a first-time author?
Over the course of my very lucky professional life, I’ve done publicity, which is the caboose of the publishing train. We receive a given book in its final ,tip-top incarnation: it’s finished, designed, jacketed, fully-formed and ready to go. I have now experienced the life of creating a book in its entirety and have seen first-hand the remarkable effort it takes to build that publishing train from the beginning. Being a first-time author has given me a newfound respect for our writers and my colleagues in editorial, copyediting, production, design, sales, and art. Working with the incredible Penguin team and my North Star editor Meg Leder have been the best part of this Mr. Todd’s Wild Ride in the past year.
What do you hope readers take away from LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE
The ultimate goal is to provide a thought-provoking or energizing break in a busy day and scary world. LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE is kind of like a modern-day version of a scrapbook, carefully crafted just for you. I hope it inspires the reader to listen, read, watch, look at, spring into action, and discover.And that it reminds folks that we’re all in this together.
Todd Doughty is currently SVP, deputy publisher of Doubleday and has worked at Penguin Random House for more than two decades. A graduate of Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) and former bookseller, he lives with his partner in Westchester County, New York.