Meet Helen Tootsi | Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Helen Tootsi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Helen, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Persistence. As a writer, it’s hard to measure success universally. You can look at it from the perspective of how well your books are selling, how much work comes in from other avenues, or whether you create something that brings joy to others. For me success is a combination of both: putting out work that I am happy with that brings joy to others, and having people who actually want to read what I write. Writing itself is very unglamorous and isolating job. You are in charge of your schedule and keeping to the set deadline. When I was writing my first book, I had a military grade schedule. Even when I didn’t feel particularly inspired, I had to put in the hours, get words on paper. Sticking to your daily plan is paramount for me when there’s a deadline. Another thing is to trust your gut about what you are doing. As long as there’s passion and love to what you do, it will eventually result in success. You need to love what you do, because it shows. It attracts the right opportunities, people and joy. I truly believe in the saying ‘success is when preparation meets opportunity’, so do all the hard work, learn from mistakes, so when the right opportunity knocks on your door, you are ready to welcome it with open arms.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I don’t think I have ever heard anyone successful say that getting to where they are was a walk in the park. Being a creative, there’s always some degree of self doubt involved on your journey. It’s probably not something you deal with on daily basis, because if you did, then you’re likely not ready to get to where you want to be. I come from a wonderful hard working, but not overly creative family. I am the only person in my immediate family that has chosen artistic lifestyle. Growing up, one of the hardest things to get around was the notion that creative fields are not filled with jobs that are considered to be serious kind. It was not seen as an option. For the longest time, I thought I will end up studying business, architecture or become a lawyer, all of the things my parents would have approved of. I chose film studies instead. Bending the claim that there’s no career in creative world was one of the most difficult things to prove to my parents. Again, persistence is the key. If you feel strongly about something, you should follow your heart one way or another, despite what anyone else says.

There’s a lot I have learned as I’ve grown as a writer. One of the biggest revelations for me arrived at my life when I realised that it’s okay to try different formats, to play around a little to see what fits. I can do copywriting, create brand language, write a non-fiction, as well as fiction, write about art, hotels, lifestyle, or a baby monitor and why people should use one. I’ve dipped my toe in many different puddles to see what suits me the most. It has all helped me to find my own unique style, which varies depending on what I write about. When it’s art, then I can get almost poetic, if it’s a book or other long format, I become a scriptwriter. Being trained as a film and tv director certainly influenced my writing style. I write very film like and I aim to create in the manner where instead of reading words on paper, it all seems like scenes of a movie, unfolding in your head. I don’t think I would ever write a book that’s heavy or super serious. I aspire to create joy and offer readers some escape from their daily lives when they read my stories. I want to make people laugh, feel like they can relate to what they are reading, bring a bit of light into their day. I will never been the next Dostoevsky, nor will I want to become one. I love telling stories with strong female characters, not because I don’t think there aren’t great male protagonists to write about, but because that’s what I naturally gravitate to. I try to mix influences from my childhood and the global experiences from my adult life into what I create.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am a big fan of hidden spots, hole in the walls and the weirdness of The Valley. Honestly! The bars and the second hand shops in the Valley are a trip! I would show my friends places that still have that old Hollywood vibe, that is slowly disappearing, take them on a day hike at Angeles National forest, have them take a dip in the hot springs, go to the desert, and take them to an outdoor concert at either Greek Theatre or the Hollywood Bowl. I would feed them tacos from a food truck, take them to The Roger Room for a drink, drive through the canyons to Malibu and have a picnic at the beach. I’d encourage them to take a surfing lesson if they haven’t taken one before, and book tickets to the Cinespia event at the Hollywood Cemetery. One thing that people don’t realise about LA is how much art there is. I would love to take them to some galleries, to museums, and show them what it really is all about. Mostly though, they’d be well fed and would spend a ton of time in nature.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are quite a few people who have helped me in different ways on this journey. An old friend Margus who pushed me to dig my writing out from the bottom of the drawers, my former Italian roommate Ceci in LA who to this day is probably my biggest fan. She always pushed me to tell little stories, read my different experiments, and shared brutally honest feedback when it was needed. My first book happened thank to my friend and former editor Eia, who contacted a publisher and pitched the idea. My friends Marco, Karel and Scott who provided me with a home when things fell apart. My close friends back in Estonia who keep me grounded. It would have been so much harder to get to where I am without all these incredible people in my life. It’s never the money, wild success or authority that make life worth living, it’s the people around you that walk through this life alongside you. Perhaps it all sounds a bit sentimental, but there’s some profound truth to it.

Website: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19679242.HELEN_TOOTSI

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/htootsi/?hl=en

Image Credits
Rob Hoffman, Jürgen Pärnsalu, Karel Polt, Peeter Semjonov