Todd Doughty, LITTLE PIECES OF HOPE: Happy-Making Things in a Difficult World
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[0:41]Todd Dowdy is the author of Little Pieces of Hope, Happy Making Things in a Difficult World.
[0:46]Todd is currently SVP, Deputy Publisher of Double Day, and has worked at Penguin Random House for more than two decades.
[0:54]A graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and former bookseller, he lives with his partner in Westchester County, New York.
[1:01]Welcome, Todd.
[1:02]Thank you so much for coming on Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books to discuss Little Pieces of Hope, Happy Making Things in a Difficult World.
[1:09]Thank you so much for having me.
[1:11]It's my pleasure.
[1:12]I have to tell you, I read this while getting over my booster shot sickness, which was terrible.
[1:19]And I was like, I need something to make me feel better.
[1:21]And I was like, oh, it's a perfect book.
[1:24]Well, thank you.
[1:25]I'm happy to.
[1:26]I'm sorry that you needed it, but I'm happy the book was there.
[1:28]Thank you.
[1:29]Yes.
[1:30]And for the record, I have always had a porcelain cow creamer.
[1:34]And it is one of my favorite things since I was a kid.
[1:37]So anyway, that got its own one page shout out.
[1:40]I know that.
[1:41]I know.
[1:42]I'm like, okay.
[1:43]All right.
[1:44]I meant to bring it upstairs to this site, but of course I forgot.
[1:46]But anyway.
[1:47]Okay, so first of all, tell listeners how this book came to be that your whole Instagram story during COVID and all of it.
[1:55]And then we'll get into more stuff.
[1:57]Okay, sure.
[1:58]Absolutely.
[1:59]So, you know, with this, the blame for this can be laid squarely.
[2:03]I say jokingly at the feed of Metro North, which is our commuter rail here in New York City.
[2:09]I left the office on Wednesday, March 11 of 2020, which was the day that the WHO declared a global pandemic.
[2:18]And I was on the train.
[2:20]And for some reason, it just struck me and I wrote it directly into my Instagram happy making things in a difficult world.
[2:28]And I started making a list of all of the things that brought me joy.
[2:33]And that was everything from, you know, fat goldfish, a really good burger, a really bad DJ at a wedding that becomes a really good DJ at a wedding.
[2:44]Your door will tease one writer beginnings, any movie of Catherine Hepburns, but particularly her entrance in the line and winter.
[2:51]And it was just a sort of hodgepodge list.
[2:53]Again, as I mentioned, of things that had brought me great joy.
[2:56]And I posted it that day.
[2:58]And what I noticed was a lot of friends and families started commenting.
[3:02]And people began to add their own happy making things.
[3:07]But what jumped out to me is there were a couple of strangers on my Instagram who commented as well.
[3:13]And I thought, well, there's something here.
[3:15]So I just kept going and then I kept going and going and going and it ended up resulting in this miracle that's happened, which is now this is a book out as of October.
[3:28]And it's just been, you know, a very good thing to happen during a very difficult time.
[3:34]So it's a happy making thing in a difficult fact.
[3:38]It has been for me.
[3:39]And you know, to see the reaction of folks and have that connection of, you know, you spend your whole life getting recommendations for people like you have to watch this show where you have to go see this movie or you have to listen to this album.
[3:51]You know, and there's a spirit of that in the book.
[3:54]There are over 3,000 individual happy making things, the brilliant copy editors of Penguin curated the entire list of everything in the book, which was kind of, you know, mesmerizing and amazing when I saw it together for the first time.
[4:10]But those that read it will see, I list everything from feelings to memories to items to recipes, books, TV, you know, articles that I've read, you'll see things unfold in real time.
[4:24]You know, I would sit down at the on the couch every night, we watched Jeopardy and then at about 730.
[4:30]I would start going down this rabbit hole of joy as I liked to call it and, you know, I carefully curated each list every day to come out an hour and a half to two hours, you know, it would be sparked by something that meant a lot to me or something that I saw in the world around me that day.
[4:50]You know, we were home at that time, our office closed. But what happened was I began to notice the world around me in a different way.
[5:00]You know, I say at the beginning of the book each one of us is carrying an invisible bag of rocks and we don't know how heavy it is, how big it is, you know, for that other person.
[5:12]I think that there are these little totems that have gotten you through your life, you know, the song that got you through the movie that got you through the book that got you through the book that opened a door.
[5:22]So it's all these tangible things that meant something to me that I wanted to share with the wider world.
[5:29]And so many are ones that resonate. I mean, certainly with me, but I'm sure with lots of people, but everyone can find their things in there and I feel like, I don't know, I'm 45 so I feel like there were a lot of 80s, 90s, you know, all those references.
[5:42]Absolutely.
[5:43]Yes, I love this.
[5:45]There are two dedicated 80s lists. I call them special editions. There's 80s special editions. There are holiday special editions, like Thanksgiving graduation.
[5:55]You know, I also did 16 individual essays throughout the book. My brilliant editor, Meg Letter, said to me, okay, you know, we need 50% new material that's not on your Instagram, which I did.
[6:08]I made, you know, I stopped posting for a while and then I typed everything into the notes in my phone because that was easier. I wanted to try to not repeat stuff.
[6:17]People will see repeats of certain things like Jacqueline Onassis or Linman Well, Miranda or, you know, various other things, but I tried to do little Easter eggs that if something was in there again, it had to be in a different way.
[6:31]So that was actually one of the really fun things to do.
[6:35]Wow. Plus it's it speaks to this whole mindfulness, you know, movement, if you will, right, that we have to be we have to tap into the things that are making us happy and like put them front of mind and like instead of letting the chaos of today overrule the day, you know, you can like pick up a mixtape
[6:55]or, you know, you go into this book and you can look for two seconds, like, well, not to mention that you have lists, like things that make you feel better or whatever.
[7:03]Things you might consider doing today, like all these things, but, but more are the the moments, right, go outside at desk and listen to the birdsong.
[7:12]Look at some old pictures that bring back happy times, like you think about these things and then you have to stop in your tracks, right, you just have to.
[7:20]I think that that's that's very true, at least for me, you know, I'm not an expert, but I know that the world can be a scary place, whether it's an unprecedented global pandemic or it's a regular battle day or it's a difficult time that you're having in your life and I think that hope and optimism are important.
[7:42]I think that there have been times for myself when that has been hard to see. So, you know, again, it goes back to that notion of the things that bring you joy, the things that have changed your life.
[7:54]There is an essay in the book about red velvet cake, which happens to be my favorite dessert of all time. And I'm here looking at a photo on the bulletin board in front of me of my late grandmother, who I worshiped in the door.
[8:07]She was an amazing human being and behind her is her seven layer red velvet cake. You know, I that sensory memory is always associated with her.
[8:17]All of us have that. I mean, you mentioned your porcelain creamer that you've had since a child. You know, there's a list. I believe it's a Thanksgiving list where I talk about the pile of coats on the bed, you know, at a family gathering.
[8:29]And I think those visceral moments tend to stay with us and at a time when it might be difficult to see the good things they are still all around you.
[8:40]That's important to remember. It's something that I certainly certainly clung to in the past 22 months now, you know, that's anything made you happy today.
[8:49]Yes, I get a vanilla latte every morning.
[8:54]So that's my first happy making thing. I have done this thing where before I go to sleep at night, I try to think of five things during the day that I'm grateful for.
[9:05]And that's this is not, you know, big picture stuff. It's little things. And I think that one of the aspects of the book that can the reader can relate to is I say there may be things that you don't know about a song you haven't heard a painting you haven't seen that I can lead you to that discovery.
[9:24]But that's no different than if someone does that for me we share that connection. And I think, you know, at this time now more than ever that's very important.
[9:33]The book can be read straight through, of course, but I look at it as a daily devotional of delight, like you can pick up and read a page dip in dip out for when you need it.
[9:45]It's subtitled by the way. Oh, thanks.
[9:48]Maybe for the next one.
[9:51]Yeah, I'm hoping for a rip off page a day calendar. So maybe we can use that. That would be great. But you know, I think that we all.
[10:00]have struggled with moments of connection and you know what I hope that the reader feels between
[10:07]the two of us is that there's a fine line between memory and discovery so either I trigger something
[10:13]that you might love and share with me as well or like I said I send you on a you know
[10:19]journey of discovery to find that painting or listen to that song or make that recipe.
[10:24]So take me back to how you got here like how did you write the book but also your career in
[10:30]book in the book world like what else things start? Well okay let's start with the publishing
[10:38]aspect so I grew up in Southern Illinois and I went to S.I.U. so the Illinois University of
[10:45]Carbondale goes to Lucas and I came to New York when I was 16 years old on a church trip
[10:51]through our Methodist Church and I told my mom when I got back home that I was going to move
[10:57]there and she said that's fine but after you graduate from college so my best friend and I graduated
[11:02]on a Friday we packed up a U-Haul on a Monday in May of 1995 we were here by Tuesday so that was
[11:10]literally how I got here so I've lived there and here as you know from that first list and
[11:16]throughout the book New York is a great level of my life and I've been very very lucky
[11:21]I was a bookseller for a couple of years at Walden Books on Wall Street and my friend Jerry
[11:27]Krasner her best friend Amy Edelman both are who are both who are in the acknowledgements they
[11:34]you know Amy is was the managing editor I believe at Random House at the time and there was an
[11:41]opening in the publicity department for the executive director Carol Schneider and his
[11:46]legend in the business and Amy told Jerry and Jerry said you can talk to a wall and you love to
[11:51]read and you should go for this job and I was like oh okay you know and I had never worked in an
[11:57]office before and somehow I tricked those people and it has given me my professional life for
[12:06]the past 23 years so for a kid who grew up a book nerd in rural Illinois whose library was a
[12:14]haven you know it's it's been quite honestly just a blessing in my life I've been very very lucky
[12:21]and that extends to the book as well you know when I started this it was one individual list
[12:27]and as I mentioned earlier I just kept going you know friends began to percolate and say you know
[12:33]this is a book don't you and I didn't at the time it was really just that daily escape that I
[12:39]was looking for but then we put the book together Brittany Bloom for the book group is my agent
[12:45]yeah she's amazing she saw it as a whole and we we are working with the folks at Penguin
[12:52]and Meg Letter is my brilliant North Star editor there and so I work in publicity you know and for
[12:59]those who don't know who might be listening that is the caboosa the publishing train you know
[13:03]the writer writes the book the editor buys it the cover is designed they it the book is edited
[13:09]it's typeset sales sells it in and then publicity and marketing come in at the end of the
[13:14]life of the book so what happened for me was I was on the other side of the publishing fence
[13:20]so I was actually able to see the train being built if that makes sense and it was a remarkable
[13:26]experience you know from everything Josie Portillo did all the beautiful art on the gorgeous cover
[13:33]and throughout Sabrina Bowers is the genius designer who created the actual look of the book
[13:40]so it was a truly collaborative experience and it it was just amazing and again I cannot say this
[13:46]enough I know how lucky I am to have this exist and truly grateful so what was it like then having
[13:54]to do publicity for your own book it's a little weird do you make the whole plan like how did
[14:01]you do it no I have an amazing team at Penguin Rebecca Marsh Sarah Delos you're in the
[14:06]Bria Casher and they are the geniuses behind all of the launch and they've been a remarkable
[14:12]they've been remarkable in their work and just their collegial spirit and I owe it all to them
[14:17]you know for me in publicity so what happens is when you see an author
[14:23]on the today show or you read an article online or they list our listening to me or others on
[14:28]your podcast which is still very weird for me to say you know a publicist has helped arrange that
[14:35]you know back and before times and we're getting into this a little bit more now when you go to
[14:39]events in person at a bookstore a publicist has arranged that with the store so we are really
[14:46]the the responsible for the launch and the life of that book in the media sphere in the book
[14:52]stellar sphere in terms of events only and so to be on the side of it is quite bizarre you know
[15:00]I'm a behind the scenes guy so to this day it's still a little bit surreal so would you change
[15:08]your things that you do on the publicity side now that you've seen what it's like on the
[15:11]author side I don't know that I would call it change but I have a newfound and newfound
[15:20]respect is the best way to say it because I had never written a book before so I didn't know
[15:26]how to do this right like the act of just sitting down and doing it every day is so very important
[15:32]but then putting it together and how do you shape it and you know a lot of that credit goes to
[15:36]Mac because she was the one to say will include the eight different playlists that are in the book
[15:41]will include the 16 essays as I mentioned earlier we looked at all of the pacing in the book the
[15:46]reader will see you know we pulled out groupings for one page or we pulled out individual items for
[15:52]a page I think that that aspect of creating it was something I didn't quite fully understand the
[16:00]best way I can describe it is there is a toy in a box in your home and every day you go over to
[16:08]the box and you take the toy out and only you play with the toy and you derive joy from playing
[16:14]with the toy and let's say it's an hour it's two hours and then you take the toy and you put it
[16:20]back in the box and you close the lid and the toy in the box have nothing else to do with the
[16:24]rest of your life right so then that's the actual aspect of writing and then when you get it
[16:31]to get if you're lucky enough and you know to have a book published which you know is a miracle
[16:38]and again I'm still very grateful for that you know you then begin sharing the toy with other people
[16:43]and then the toy gets sent out into the world when it's published and I've seen that for 23 years
[16:49]but I didn't understand the mechanics behind it and I would say that's kind of the biggest lesson
[16:55]that I've learned which just shows that you know I'm old and I could still learn new things.
[17:01]Yes actually I think this time of life I've learned more than I did for like the 20 previous years
[17:07]I think I've learned more in the last four years and I don't know certainly the previous decade
[17:12]put together. Certainly the past 22 months have been a very eye-opening time as well.
[17:18]Interesting so aside from the calendar do you did this now make you think like okay well now that
[17:24]I've gotten a taste of being on the author side this is definitely like I want to have this happen again
[17:28]like are you liking it and like do you have more books in you or were you like okay this I didn't
[17:35]even mean for this to happen necessarily I'm delighted it has but now like back to my day job type of
[17:40]oh no I mean I this has just been an amazing incredible experience I mean I think that you know
[17:46]one one thing that happened is I turned the book in about a year ago at the beginning of October
[17:51]and then we went through rewrites and copy edits and things like that but for the most part
[17:56]I've kept posting lists. I saw that I know yeah very recent. Yeah I mean I think the last one
[18:02]was about a week ago or so I've been a little less sporadic or sorry I've been a little
[18:08]more sporadic as opposed to daily but I did keep going because it was just fun for me you know
[18:15]that was great I mean I joke about a page of day calendar I'd love to have that happen you know
[18:19]one of the things that I say early in the book though that there might be things that readers don't
[18:24]like so just cross them out and add in your own you know you too can make your own daily lists
[18:29]of happy making things so you can do a journal do a journal sure you know but like everybody could
[18:35]do that on their own as well you don't need me to guide you I think that the way that you see
[18:40]things in the world around you each day can inspire that. Well I also think you could turn your cover
[18:46]into some wallpaper. Well that credit all goes to Josie and Brianna Harton who designed the jacket
[18:53]they did an incredible job you know it's just this burst of yellow with some of the happy making
[18:59]things from the book I'm looking at it right now you know there are peeps there's a slice of cake
[19:02]there's an actual mixtape there's a bicycle with a basket on it jukebox a wherelitzer pink flamingo
[19:09]and you know it's it's so fun to see I went into a bookstore for the first time on pub day and
[19:16]to see it there in person was just a shock but yeah the cover itself is just this sort of burst
[19:23]of joy. Can you go back to being the book nerd who took who found Haven in libraries when you were a
[19:30]a kid tell me more about that time. Oh totally absolutely you know the essay on summer reading talks
[19:35]about you know me as kid and finishing up chores so that by one o'clock that I could head to the library
[19:41]you know it the Carterville Public Library was a haven for me when you walked in the kid section
[19:47]back in the day was on the left on the right was the magazine rack and then the stacks behind
[19:52]the librarians were amazing people who opened many new doors windows and worlds to me at that
[20:00]at time, you could pick a topic and then request it.
[20:04]And then the county library would photocopy
[20:06]all of these articles and bring them back to you
[20:09]on whatever topic you would choose.
[20:11]So I'm a bit of a pack rat.
[20:13]I don't have some of those articles from my childhood,
[20:15]but I have saved things over the years
[20:17]actually made their way into the book.
[20:20]But I'm still a book nerd to this day.
[20:22]You know, our apartment is packed full of books.
[20:25]They have brought me such joy professionally
[20:29]and personally, you know, a friend of mine recently
[20:32]talked about, like think about that person who
[20:35]handed your favorite book to you or how you found it.
[20:38]And what that moment means to you in your life.
[20:42]And, you know, Doris Larson is my former second grade teacher
[20:46]who read as the poetry of Shell Silverstein.
[20:48]I still have all three of his books from my childhood.
[20:52]My uncle Dennis gave me from the mixed up files
[20:54]of Mrs. Basley, Frank Weiler.
[20:56]I have my childhood copy.
[20:58]The dust jacket is a little bit worn and torn.
[21:01]But I met Mrs. Conningsburg totally accidentally
[21:05]at a charity event years ago.
[21:07]And as I mentioned in the book, it's
[21:09]like this static line of children are lined up in front
[21:12]of her and then it spikes with me at the end, you know.
[21:15]But I think that if you are a reader,
[21:18]you have those books that have followed you along.
[21:21]I wrote like a whole memoir about this.
[21:23]It's coming out next time.
[21:24]Oh, that's great.
[21:25]Yeah, it's like all the books that, because I remember life
[21:29]in terms of what I was reading, where I read certain things.
[21:33]And this book helped me, you know, so I just
[21:35]wanted to, like, sort of an homage to those books with my friends.
[21:38]I love it.
[21:38]I wanted to read that.
[21:40]Yeah, I remember sitting in a hammock outside of art
[21:43]with a dude in trailer in college for a year.
[21:46]And I strung a hammock between the trees.
[21:49]And I remember reading The Witching Hour there,
[21:51]which is one of my favorite books of all time,
[21:53]but Anne Rice, if you haven't read it,
[21:54]get that in the mummy stat, you know,
[21:57]you know where you were, when those things meant something to you.
[22:00]I don't know if you read Anne Patchitz book.
[22:02]I just didn't read her yesterday, so I have it right here.
[22:04]And I keep it at it for these precious days.
[22:06]But, you know, she says it's not like the book
[22:08]journey is not complete until you've been recommended it
[22:11]and given it to somebody else.
[22:13]I think that's so true.
[22:15]You know, that book is fabulous.
[22:16]She is one of my favorite writers.
[22:18]I was lucky enough years ago.
[22:21]I worked with John Grisham and we did an event
[22:23]at Parnassus and Nashville.
[22:25]And I took my first edition of Belcanto
[22:27]and she graciously signed it.
[22:29]But it is true.
[22:30]I mean, she's right, you know, that circle is complete.
[22:33]And, you know, the reward is if someone loves it as much as you do.
[22:36]I mean, I have this thing where I say,
[22:38]if someone tells me a book that they're reading that I loved,
[22:40]I say, I'm so jealous that you get to read it for the first time.
[22:44]Like to go back and do that again,
[22:45]because you'll never have that experience again.
[22:48]It's true.
[22:49]It's true.
[22:51]So what are you reading now?
[22:52]Anything good?
[22:53]You know, one of the things that I fell in love with
[22:55]during the pandemic were Louise Penney's mystery novels
[22:59]starting with Still Life, which is great.
[23:01]We are publishing Honey on a Gahara's new novel
[23:05]to Paradise in January, which is a masterpiece.
[23:09]You know, the 2B red pile is a mile high.
[23:12]I have Robin Hobbs, the assassin apprentice,
[23:14]which I've never read.
[23:15]A colleague of mine was just telling me Patrick Rothfuss.
[23:18]Rothfuss is an amazing writer and I need to read his series.
[23:22]So it's never ending.
[23:23]How about you?
[23:24]Don't put me on the spot like that.
[23:26]I'm like, what do I have coming up next week?
[23:28]I basically, I have so many things I want to read
[23:30]that I read them based on when I'm doing the podcast about them.
[23:34]OK, well, that makes sense.
[23:35]So I have to finish Allison Larkin,
[23:38]the people we keep.
[23:39]Uh-huh.
[23:40]LA Weather, actually I read that already.
[23:42]Maria, as can done.
[23:44]Do you have a particular way
[23:46]that's your favorite type of reading?
[23:48]I don't mean device, but like a place or time.
[23:51]Do I have a favorite place or time where I like to read in bed?
[23:56]Before before I go to sleep, or really all day?
[23:58]I mean, that really was like, yeah, what about you?
[24:04]Well, you know, now that we're back in the office,
[24:06]I like to read on the train, on the commute in.
[24:09]You know, it's sort of uninterrupted time.
[24:11]I like to read before I go to bed too,
[24:13]but I usually come out pretty fast.
[24:15]So that dedicated commute time has always been great to me.
[24:19]I just listened to Benjamin Eliera Sans's Aristotle
[24:24]and Dante sequel, which I loved.
[24:26]So I don't do a lot of audiobooks,
[24:29]but it's something I'd like to start up again
[24:30]now that the commute is there.
[24:32]Yeah.
[24:33]I mean, in a dream world, I would read, like, you know,
[24:36]on a shows lounge with the ocean, like laughing at my feet.
[24:39]Yeah.
[24:40]Of course.
[24:41]Sloppy hat that like never gets squashed in a suitcase, you know?
[24:45]That is very specific.
[24:46]Totally different body, perhaps.
[24:49]But the same books and books that just never ended.
[24:52]So that would be great.
[24:53]Sure.
[24:55]What advice would you have for aspiring authors?
[24:58]What advice would I have?
[24:59]Well, I think the act of sitting down
[25:03]and taking the time to write every day cannot be underestimated.
[25:09]You know, it's one thing to have a deadline.
[25:11]Again, I had never done this before.
[25:13]So the deadline helped.
[25:15]But, you know, this really did begin on a train.
[25:18]But after that, every day, we were home.
[25:20]And like I said, I would sit down in the couch
[25:22]for an hour and a half to two hours every night
[25:25]to really focus and curate each one of these lists.
[25:29]You know, when you read them, some of the items
[25:31]are connected, some of them are zigzag,
[25:32]but they're all carefully, carefully curated for the reader.
[25:36]And just that act of sitting down and making time
[25:39]for yourself to go play with the toy out of the box
[25:42]is very, very important.
[25:45]You know, I think, yeah, I think that's what I would say
[25:49]is the most important thing to make the time.
[25:52]I also love that you think of writing as playing.
[25:55]You know, like playing with a toy.
[25:57]I mean, not that you necessarily, like,
[25:58]just that image, your analogy, right?
[26:00]Because there has to be some joy to it.
[26:02]And the act in and of itself, whatever the writing goes.
[26:07]Sure.
[26:08]And I think that that applies to, you know,
[26:09]any activity, like in life, you know,
[26:11]cooking is your thing, if sports is your thing,
[26:14]if reading is your thing, if writing is your thing,
[26:16]painting, whatever that may be, quilting,
[26:19]anything that is an activity and a hobby,
[26:23]a passion, a pursuit, you know, it requires that time.
[26:27]And, you know, again, this is the first time I've ever done it,
[26:30]but that was very important to make this happen
[26:34]and actually get it done, you know, again,
[26:36]the deadline, the looming deadline helped,
[26:38]but just the act of every day sort of sitting down
[26:43]and going into that place was a very good thing.
[26:46]You think?
[26:47]Well, I'm so excited to talk to you about this.
[26:49]I feel like I read about it in publisher's marketplace
[26:53]or something, like when I first heard about it,
[26:54]I was like, oh my gosh, I know him, he's from my inbox,
[26:58]you know, so anyway, I was like so excited
[27:02]to see being on the other side.
[27:04]So anyway, it was awesome.
[27:06]Congratulations.
[27:07]I really appreciate it and I thank you for having me today.
[27:09]Of course.
[27:10]All right, have a great day.
[27:11]All right, YouTube, thanks to me.
[27:12]Okay, bye.
[27:13]Bye.
[27:14]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms,
[27:17]don't have time to read books.
[27:18]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram,
[27:20]at Zibi Owens and at Moms,
[27:22]don't have time to read books.
[27:23]Also sign up for my newsletter at zibiowens.com
[27:26]and sign up for my virtual book club
[27:28]and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week.
[27:30]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan,
[27:32]in fact, texture sound for the sound editing.
[27:34]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions
[27:36]for providing this fantastic intro and out trim music.