Date: April 24, 2008 05:42 am Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
I know this one was a bit of a battle, but wow, but it turned out so great! I love what an editing freak you are because I always pick up little bits that change from the final read-through to post (and sometimes even after). Everyone should know how much effort you put into even some of the smallest details and the fact that you do it so effing quickly is still mind-boggling to me. You're so...great.
Author's Response: lol I know...me and my last minute editing. I walk away for a second and then come back and re-read and go "what? what kind of sentence is THAT?" and poof an entire chapter gets edited. Probably REALLY bad form, right? lol. You also are GREAT so thank you thank you for all sorts of beta things!!!!
Date: April 24, 2008 05:37 am Title: Just hang on now, let me catch my breath and take my pants off.
Thank God for Heather! I love her! What good girlfriend wouldn't want to know about all the naked parts, right? And the scene in the kitchen is just...MAN, I have got to find a boyfriend.
Author's Response: lol thank god for heather indeed! and I, too, need a boyfriend...although if I had one I sincerely doubt I'd update so fast...
10 [Report This]Date: April 24, 2008 05:35 am Title: Just hang on now, let me catch my breath and take my pants off.
You've done it again. Another fantastic chapter!
I really like the lighter tone. Such a great contrast to the more emotional previous chapters. That's another thing I love about this story by the way. Your ability to switch so effortlessly between different genres, even within chapters, and still stay completely true to the story and its characters.
What I also love is how you take a simple thing such as Pam's sunglasses and use it for so much more:
She picks up, dropping her purse on the floor and pushing her sunglasses so that they’re perched on top of her head.
While reading it, it's not something you pay that much attention to because you're focused on the phone call.
However, later the sunglasses return:
“I need to know literally every single detail of your life that might explain how the hell this happened,” she proclaims and Pam plops herself into the now empty armchair and sighs, pushing her hands up into her hair without realizing her sunglasses are there. They go tumbling to the floor and she just stares at them, too lazy to bend down and pick them up. Heather looks down at them, too, and purses her lips, waiting.
Aside from adding a great continuity marker, you also manage to use the sunglasses to describe how confused Pam really is. It's an honest mistake to forget that your glasses/sunglasses are sitting on your head (hell even I have done it), but contrary to Pam's normal behavior and what most of us would do, she doesn't even attempt to pick them up from the floor after she involuntarily pushes them off her head. This makes Heather (and consequently us as readers) notice that something is clearly off. Thus, this small incident ends up speaking volumes about Pam's inability to focus and wrap her mind around what has happened. So simple and yet so effective.
Speaking of simplicity, I also love this bit:
Actually she didn’t think he dated at all. She doesn’t think he does.
Two small sentences with a switch from past to present tense, and you effectively show that there's now a difference, how undefined it may be at this point, between then and now in terms of how Pam perceives her relationship with Jim.
Did that last part make sense? I'm not so sure it did...
In any case, well done. :)
PS. I know I've probably used the word love way too many times in this review, but let's face it, it's aaalll about the looove... ;)
Author's Response: hey hey! Look at you noticing my sunglass metaphor! I seriously thought that would go totally unnoticed and actually draw a few heat scratches in confusion like "why the hell is this even in here?" but you are an amazing reader so i should have known ;-) And yeah the last part makes sense to me because that's basically what I was trying to do, I think, show that there's what she thought and what she thinks and she's caught somewhere in between (did THAT make sense?) Also you could never use the word love too many times imho. Thanks for being awesome and leaving such a juicy review AGAIN. I love love love it.
Date: April 24, 2008 03:34 am Title: Just hang on now, let me catch my breath and take my pants off.
This chapter is great. I love how Pam takes a little time by herself to more closely examine her feelings toward Jim. Heather was funny, but I'm glad she didn't hide in the closet. That would be most awkward!
And Jim coming up behind her and whispering in her ear is verrry nice. Even if it was silly penis talk. Ha.
Author's Response: lol yeah I'm really glad she didn't hide in the closet too, totally illogical. Thanks for the review.
Date: April 24, 2008 02:01 am Title: Just hang on now, let me catch my breath and take my pants off.
So, here I am at 4:57 a.m. NJ time after a rather fretful night's sleep and I'm up way too early and I'm supposed to be researching bridal shower info (like THAT'S something I really feel like doing now or ever) and here you are. Ah, stablergirl, you complete me. I am now a little less cranky. THIS was just what the doctor ordered. I love this thing that is this Jim and this Pam. They exude awkwardness and moltent-lava sexuality. So many great and funny lines, and my sleep-deprived brain is not quite capable of quoting any. I think I will have to visit you later, but thank you for improving my mood like nobody could.
Author's Response:
lol bridal showers...yikes... I'm so glad I could improve your mood!! What a wonderful testament to why we even write like this, right? You made MY day brighter by leaving this review, so i think you!
Date: April 24, 2008 01:06 am Title: Just hang on now, let me catch my breath and take my pants off.
Well exactly. :P Best line: Don Juan have you missed my stunning good looks this weekend, Sunshine? Jim.
Brilliant chapter. I love Heather.
Author's Response: thanks I love Heather too. So funny and awkward and true to life, right? Who wouldn't act like a flubbering idiot around the infamous and delicious Jim Halpert?
Date: April 24, 2008 12:00 am Title: Just hang on now, let me catch my breath and take my pants off.
I loved getting Pam's thoughts about her and Jim!
And I am always up for more penis talk.
Author's Response: lol who isn't ;-)
10 [Report This]Date: April 23, 2008 11:54 pm Title: Just hang on now, let me catch my breath and take my pants off.
What fun!
“He just showed up here with eggs and then I invited him in and he cut himself and it was just like…that’s it,” I love that this line makes perfect sense to Pam and us readers but it's so random when you read it - funny stuff.
Also - Robert E. Lee - hee!
Lastly, I think Heather's "I want you" face was probably the same as mine when reading it - like fiendish glee and shock. Yay date ahead!!
Author's Response: lol I know, out of context to poor Heather that sentence about the eggs probably made literally zero sense. Also, I think her I want you face and your I want you face were probably the same as mine when I wrote it ;-) Thanks for the fast review!! First one on this chapter!
10 [Report This]Date: April 23, 2008 10:06 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
oh MY GOD YOU ARE KILLING ME! i am near tears. i really like this trip that you're taking us on, but it's also excruciating. are we anywhee near an end?? more to the point, though, this is an excellent series - full of depth, heart, hotness!, and true beauty. but you're still killing me :)
Author's Response: we are nearing an end, yes. I think probably three or four more chapters. Probably three. Thank you so much for this great review!! So many compliments in so few sentences, lol, I'm blushing. ;-)
Date: April 23, 2008 05:58 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
It's taken me this long to review because you have broken my brain. Graham cracker is the funniest thing I've read in a long, long time. So perfect.
It’s like Jim has been wearing her down for days, weeks, and she should’ve figured it out and told Graham to get his milk someplace else. Who doesn't love a milk metaphor? Rawr.
He apparently doesn’t expect a response because he just nods once and the tension drips off of him and she’s jealous of his ability to address a situation and then move right on. Here we see the advantages to being Teflon Jim. No wonder she'd have sex with him right on the table. Guh.
Author's Response: lol omg graham cracker was ALL sweetpea. she was like "pam calls dawn 'soap' shouldn't Jim call Graham 'cracker'?" and I laughed so hard I had to write it in ;-) I should edit my notes to say that I guess, huh? Anyway yeah who WOULDN'T want to have sex with Teflon Jim on a table, any table really? Am I right? Thanks for the review ;-)
9 [Report This]Date: April 23, 2008 10:08 am Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
Great story. I've also been checking spastically for reviews every 5 minutes. I'm sad that it's probably going to be over soon! Good job.
Author's Response: lol yeah I'd say about three more chapters or so. Maybe four tops. But sometimes these stories have a mind of their own, right? so who knows lol. Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm glad you like it.
Date: April 23, 2008 08:20 am Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
BEST STORY....EVER..... Thank you so much for this "real" version of Jim and Pam. I must confess this whole time i was watching for the lastest chapters like, every hour at work. So if I get fired, you are totally responisble, You JAM crack dealer!!!!Anywho, this was so good, i can't even form the proper words to compliment you. Here goes: BEST STORY. Kicked my ass and then helped me up and kicked my ass again! Great ride! Keep writing!
Author's Response: lol glad I could kick your ass ;-) more to come soon!!
10 [Report This]Date: April 23, 2008 06:55 am Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
Ahhhh (that's a good ahhhh in case you were wondering ;))!
Love, love, LOVE the cat metaphor. So well carried out throughout the entire chapter. Pure brillance.
You had me at, "She thinks there are tigers..."
Seriously though. How you build up that metaphor in the beginning is awesome.
Setting the "cats" up as opposites:
She thinks there are tigers, and then there are housecats.
Describing one:
She thinks there are tigers, and lions, and jungles full of these powerful types of cats who have intelligent eyes and long, lean torsos and shoulder blades and hip bones that move like see saws every time they walk. Predators. Hunters. The type that could make a person freeze just by casting a glance in their general direction.
Connecting it with Jim:
She thinks there are men, like Jim, who are tigers. Lions. Men who are like Jim because they have that certain hint of danger and that certain look that makes a woman feel like maybe she might be dinner. And also dessert. And probably breakfast if everyone is lucky.
Introducing Graham:
And then there are men like Graham.
Describing the other:
Housecats.
Easy and lazy and careless and content to just sit on a bench while the afternoon sort of rolls by.
Connecting it with Graham:
There are definitely men like Graham who only need their tails stroked every once in a while to be pleased as punch and don’t really challenge a woman much, don’t really make her feel like if she doesn’t run she might be sorry. Simple and satisfied types of men.
And of course you bring the metaphor all the way home in the end by tying it together with Pam's evolvement as a person: The coffee shop encounter has made her realize how she has been playing it safe by being with Graham, and that she is now ready for more.
That, my friend, is good writing!
Author's Response: Thank you soooo much!! I think that stuff you quoted took me like four tries or something, and I kept having to hash out with my beta exactly what it was I wanted to say, so I'm SO EXCITED that you quoted that and liked it and got it. And yeah you always have to tie the metaphor in at the end, right? Pam's totally ready for her hot sexy tiger guy now ;-) Thank you thank you for such an awesome review.
Date: April 23, 2008 12:38 am Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
before Graham interrupted she was pretty much about to suggest that Jim basically quit his entire life so that he can more readily become her very personal and well-endowed sex slave
Now THAT sounds like a plan!!
I've been going stir-crazy waiting for an update on this story, and then almost missed it this morning when I got up! But it was worth the wait - the tension of the encounter with no one really knowing what to say was so realistic - witty remarks don't just happen the way you want them to in those situations. I loved the cat metaphor - very apt.
So that's what you Americans think of us British then, huh? Bloody cheek! ;) I have to say the 'sans blood' line really made me laugh! :D
Author's Response: so true! I always find the awkward silences both overpowering and amusing, so I thought why not write it a little more true to life? And no!!! We don't think that about the british! lol total stereotype and i definitely apologize. Just sort of a gimmick to bring a smile, I guess ;-) Go brits! lol.
10 [Report This]Date: April 22, 2008 11:21 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
You are my hero. That is the only coherent thing I can come up with for this story. It is really that good. Can't wait for more!
Author's Response: lol thank you so much!! I always love incoherence in reviews, definitely a good sign ;-)
Date: April 22, 2008 11:02 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
"How dare you?" ::sigh:: I love the new take on that kiss, this was a lot steamier! Loved the running theme of jungle cat vs. house cat. Poor Graham, a nice boy really...but no match for our Jim. I continue to love this story. Can't wait to see what you've got planned for the next chapter!
Author's Response: lol thank you, yeah everything's a little steamier in the Stablergirl universe, not gonna lie ;-) Thanks for reviewing still! The next chapter is almost ready and should be up Thursday I think.
Date: April 22, 2008 09:44 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
Oh, Jim, you could never been "just coffee." Glad Pam seems to have accepted things. Tiger indeed!
"For why she didn’t just call him three days ago and let him down easy when she first felt the hints of this Jim and Pam hot and heavy, wake up and I need you kind of love story."
I'm so happy Pam thinks it's a love story and not a sex story.
Where d they go from here?? Can't wait to find out!
Author's Response: ugh I'm glad she thinks it's a love story too, although I think it'll take her a while to admit it ;-)
10 [Report This]Date: April 22, 2008 07:11 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
This just gets more and more delicious.
Author's Response: thanks!
10 [Report This]Date: April 22, 2008 06:49 pm Title: It's not that I hate you, it's just that I hate everything about you.
OOOOh! I LOVE the Jim/long lean tiger comparison. FABULOUS. I do feel sorry for the housecat, though. Seriously, this is the best fic I have read, hands down! And this was my favorite chapter so far.
Author's Response: thank you!! I loved this chapter too, but I really like the idea of Jim being some kind of masculine yet feline kind of guy. Anyway that's probably TMI, but oh well ;-)
Date: April 22, 2008 06:44 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
This is the prettiest chapter of all the chapters. :) Okay, never mind my dumb Roy imitation. Seriously, this is my favorite chapter. Not that I haven't enjoyed the other chapters, but this one's perfect. It's about damn time Pam has come to her senses about her feelings for Jim. I love the way you've written Jim, but Pam has annoyed me now and again here. Thanks!
Author's Response: I agree, she has been a little annoying. But people are like that sometimes, so I guess it's true to life. I, too, am glad she's coming to her senses. She clearly has some issues to work through.
Date: April 22, 2008 06:32 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
P.S. Just goes to prove--women like the bad boy ; )
Author's Response: lol I know I do!
Date: April 22, 2008 06:24 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
My heart is racing stablergirl. Dang. I could just keep on reading this until I fall asleep at my computer. You made me feel so nervous. "NOT GRAHAM! YOU WANT JIM!" I nearly screamed. Thanks for easing the tension, well, that kind of tension anyway. We still have all that fantastic sexual tension: He grins at her over his shoulder and she watches his hips sway like a see saw and his legs move like a jungle animal and she thinks that maybe it’s her turn to play with bigger cats, and his saunter and his smile and that dangerous look that he gets in his eye is exactly what she wants right now. Bravo! And it's not done yet! I am so excited!!!!
Author's Response: ;-) what's a story without all this delicious tension?!? Am I right? nope not done, still a few chapters to go.
Date: April 22, 2008 05:22 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
I literally cracked up at 'fucking tigers and their charm.' Good stuff again, for the 25th time in a row.
Author's Response: lol thank you ;-)
Date: April 22, 2008 04:17 pm Title: Sometimes I look in the mirror and I wonder who I am, or...I don't know.
This is one of the most fabulous things I have ever read. Seriously, I'm addicted.(Apparently I'm not alone)This story is so hot and steamy and intelligent and thoughtful...Please don't stop...ever!
Date: April 22, 2008 03:56 pm Title: Lions and tigers and housecats, oh my god, I hate my life.
I wasn't sure about this metaphor at first, but it did work very well as has this whole story. Poor Graham though. That's gotta be humiliating. I must say though the tension between Jim and Pam is off the charts... in a good way!
Author's Response: lol thank you! I'm sure Graham will bounce back, he seems charming enough ;-) Yes the tension is very thick, so hopefully it will lead in an exciting direction!