by Rosemary Lord
I always wanted to be a writer. I just didn’t know it. Or admit it.
As a child I read voraciously. And I re-read the same books over and over again. ‘Heidi’ by Johanna Spyri was my favorite. I wanted to live on that mountainside with ‘Alm Uncle,’ her grandfather, and wander on that mountain grass with Peter the goatherd.
“A Girl of the Limberlost” was another favorite, by Gene Stratton Porter. Published in 1915 and set in America, it was described as: “A young girl’s quest for knowledge and self-worth.” It tells of a poor girl, Elnora, desperately wanting to attend school, she collects moths to pay for her education! (Now you’ll have to read it to find out what happens!) As a child, I got lost in that far away world deep in the heart of America.
I was always reading. So were my siblings. Our parents loved books, encouraging us to read from a very young age.
And I always wrote. About a little girl escaping hum-drum everyday life as she escaped through the window into a magical world. I wrote fairy-stories, the mystery of a missing cake and about a Magic Armchair! I was always too embarrassed to show anyone my scribblings, as I thought they were silly and not ‘proper writing.’ Writing was my secret world that I did not want criticized or invaded.
Our Mum was a ‘proper’ writer and got paid for it – albeit modest amounts. But she was a professional writer and member of the NUJ: The National Union of Journalists. We were loath to disturb her as she tapped away on her typewriter – just like Jessica Fletcher in “Murder She Wrote.”
I didn’t feel that I could ever aspire to Mum’s level of ‘proper’ writing. As a young girl I kept my dreams of writing to myself. I never felt my writing would be good enough. Ever. I stuffed down those ambitions.
But what else could I do when I grew up?
I watched the old black-and-white Hollywood movies on TV: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford, Greer Garson, Rosalind Russell. I realized then that I wanted to live in Hollywood and somehow work in movies with Greer Garson and Ginger Rogers. That was my dream since I was about 8.
I got laughed at and ridiculed at school when, in class, the teenage me finally confessed my dream of a life in Hollywood. I was a skinny, asthmatic kid. “Oh yes,” they laughed hysterically, “Rosemary thinks she’s going to live in Hollywood, meet movie stars and work in the movies with them!”
But I got the last laugh. I accomplished all of that and more.
I’ve lived and worked in Hollywood most of my adult life – longer than I lived in England. I’ve met, got to know and worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood’s celestial realm. From Cary Crant to Betty Davis, Jimmy Stewart, Deborah Kerr, John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock and, yes, Greer Garson. I’ve attended the Oscars more than once, the Emmys, the Golden Globes, the Cannes Film Festival, many film premieres and theatrical First Nights.
I have travelled across America, earning my living as an actress and a journalist for many years. I’ve had dozens of different ‘temp’ jobs in between – mostly when I lived in London and was trying to figure out how to get to Hollywood!
But I always wrote. I wrote daily in my journals. I started, but seldom finished, several novels. I earned a living when I wrote pieces on Old Hollywood and interviewed the actors, directors, producers for women’s magazines and newspapers. They were gracious and friendly – and introduced me to their fellow stars to interview, because they trusted me to write fairly and honestly.
It wasn’t until years later, after I had written two best-selling books on Hollywood and Los Angeles history, that I realized how much I loved writing. I remembered that that was what I had always, secretly, wanted to do. No longer living in my writer mum’s shadow. No longer thinking I wanted to be an actress. I just love writing!
I am a happy member of this writers’ blog and relish creating some magic when my turn comes around. I still write daily in my journal about my hopes, dreams, disappointments and realizations. I’m currently writing the new version of Los Angeles Then and Now for Harper Collins. They bought the ‘Then and Now’ titles and seem excited to work with me on this and other ideas.
And so, I am a very happy writer. And now I finally recognize what I want to be when I grow up: A writer! A professional writer! And I am!
What about you? Did you always aspire to be a writer?
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The Writers in Residence 
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