Yesterday. Yesterday was national grammar day. Oops. National Grammar Day. I don’t think it should be a Sunday. It should be in the middle of the week. Always in the middle of the week. Sundays? You know, people don’t really care about grammar anyway, but on Sundays, well, we have so much else to do. Or, not to do, depending on your definition of Sunday.

NGD is brought to us by The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar or SPGG. I’m all for good grammar. Except when I’m not because it doesn’t make the point I want to make.

Founded by  Martha Brockenbrough, author of Things That Make Us [Sic], in 2008, this book is touted as the snarkier American version of Lynn Truss’s Eats Shoots and Leaves.  Truss’s book was a kick and, in the way the book taught simple grammar, memorable. So I’m definitely going to book mark Grammar Girl for future use.

Meanwhile, I’m going to write. And, when I do, I’m going to read it out loud, because that is when I know if it makes sense or not. Grammar or no!

I’m not a morning person. I’m really not a night person, just ask my kids, who could stay up later than me on any given day. I’m a day person. Give me a good day! A little sun. A little blue sky. A soft breeze. Above 72 degrees and I am great! Otherwise, I’m just good. Well, for decisions, I mean.  In the early morning my brain goes into list-ing mode, choices, counter choices. No time for decision making. This is what needs to be done. Did you ever study PERT Planning? Program Evaluation and Review Technique.  This is one way to figure out you can do laundry and dust at the same time. But you can’t do laundry, dust and change the bed at the same time. I like PERT. It’s a list with attitude. Some items ‘weigh’ more than others. Cool, huh?

So. Early morning I like to get the list together. And figure things out. I have the chance to make choices about my day. By breakfast, the choices are gone. Well, not really. But the opportunity to change choices is now limited by the amount of time that is now left in the day. So. Yes, essentially,  the choices are gone.

That’s how I feel about my writing. By mid day, the choices are gone and I’m just treading water. I have to get here quickly. To The Crypt. It’s the gray wall, the one I face. Like staring at a blank cave wall. The one window is behind me. I can’t tell if it’s day or night. I determined a while back that facing something interesting is, well, too interesting. But with nothing but gray in front of me, well, what’s on my computer is more interesting.

So. Now it’s morning. Early. And time to write.

Funny, that, to think of a haughty, overly privileged young woman as brave. Lady Mary Crawley, a person who has beyond a doubt been able to get herself into the most outrageous situations, i.e., the Turkish diplomat. Or, Sir Richard Carlisle. Yes. Downton Abbey. Delicious, but  ‘course this is a highly stylized soap. Really! Just a soap. With amazing scenery. Convoluted plots. Character twists and stumbles. But still. It took me a while to see the bravery. And figure out how to translate that into my writing. Because, in truth, I usually miss that part. I talked about the ‘cringe factor’ last post. I don’t do reality shows. Or, talk shows. I can’t really believe people are that stupid. Really stupid.  So, when Lady Mary came downstairs early to have a word with Sir Richard, well, I was all set. Remote in hand. Finger on the fast forward button. Ready to speed right through it.

It occurred to me I’d really like to meet Michelle Dockery. See her in something else. Because there she was, Michelle/Mary, in all her 1920’s style, talking civilly to Sir Richard. Perhaps it was due to the social contrivances of the time. Perhaps, because, as one reviewer notes, Sir Richard is only 2D in the series. But it was civil. Even though she knew he had the wherewithal to publicly shame her, a serious offense long forgotten these days, she was willing to come down and sort of apologize, as much as an aristocrat can say sorry to a non, and wish him well. I took that as brave.

Now, maybe, you’re saying, that’s the way she was raised. After all, old 2D Sir Richard was not of her class. True. But something stuck with me. I liked that straight back. That lack of humility. That willingness to dress and come down stairs. Regardless of just how soapy this series is, Lady Mary has a bit of fearlessness about her. Perhaps that why we, on this side of the pond, do love the ‘below the salt’, above the stairs stories, soapy or not. Because there is always one character for whom we cheer. The one who is out on the limb. Struggling to keep what is theirs, and yet…recognizes that the past is gone. Forever.