10 [Report This]Date: April 20, 2011 12:33 pm Title: the hardest thing
This was perfect. I don't have more to say than that and I wish I did. You packed a punch with so few words. Perfect. Thanks for sharing with us!
Date: April 13, 2011 02:08 pm Title: the hardest thing
I really love the way you've divided the days into these increments that measure time when you can't stand looking at the clock one more time. You really captured the weight of the time. Brava.
Author's Response: Thanks! Glad you liked it. :)
10 [Report This]Date: April 13, 2011 04:54 am Title: the hardest thing
callisto - you never fail to amaze me! this was just perfect on so many levels. i love things in series and this little story was just what i needed to jumpstart a rainy wednesday morning. pam is written so well and it made my heart break alllllll over again. yay!
Author's Response: Hi kaat! Good to hear from you. I'm glad you liked it. I have a soft spot for angst-turning-happy. :) Thanks for the review!!
10 [Report This]Date: April 12, 2011 01:53 pm Title: the hardest thing
Wow! This story is amazing! So beautiful and poignant and heartbreaking. You did such a beautiful job of capturing the shifts in Pam's mood and I can almost feel her growing stronger and she prepares to tell him goodbye. Season 3 was so heart-wrenching...right up until the very last few moments...and you've mirrored that perfectly. Beautiful job.
Author's Response: Thank you so much! It was heart-wrenching, wasn't it. But it's all okay because we know how it ends. ;) I love seeing how strong Pam was in those last couple of episodes... she was ready to let him go, but it was going to break her heart no matter what she told herself. Ah, thank goodness for happy endings. I'm glad you liked it-- thanks for letting me know. :)
Date: April 12, 2011 10:53 am Title: the hardest thing
I'm so pleased to wander in and find such a lovely gem from you. This took me right back to those wonderful, torturous days. Beautiful.
Author's Response: Now nice to find a review from you, lis! Glad you're still around and reading. I'm glad you liked this-- thanks for letting me know. :)
Date: April 10, 2011 06:28 pm Title: the hardest thing
You write a wonderful Pam. Very believable thought progression for that day.
I really liked Pam sketching Jim so she could "keep" him even if he left, and this line made me all warm and fuzzy: "But then she catches a hint of that smile, the one her heart remembers..."
Author's Response: Ah, I like that line too. Thanks, jazzy. I'm glad you liked it. :)
Date: April 10, 2011 09:55 am Title: the hardest thing
Hey, callisto - nice job!
I thought where you chose to place the story is a cool part of the show to focus on, since season 2 and 3 are my favorites, and of course that "will they / won't they" tension is always a lot of fun.
You said a lot without using a lot of words, which I like. That's probably something I need to get better at doing. Also, I liked Pam trying to read into the little scraps of conversation she gets with her coworker and interpret what he might be feeling when it's not really possible. I think that's definitely something most people can relate to, even if they hadn't recently laid it all out on the line during an office beach trip, hehe. I know I've done it in the past. Not the beach confession, but trying to read into superficial talk. :-p
And the "scattered pieces of Jim" line, as well as that whole scene, was probably my favorite part of the story. Cool imagery. Thanks for the story!
Author's Response: Thanks for the review, DP. I've always had a special fascination for that week, and yes, I think we have all been guilty of trying to read something deeper into what people are saying... anyway, I'm glad you liked it. :)
Date: April 09, 2011 11:06 am Title: the hardest thing
This was lovely. Took me right back to "The Job", one of my absolute favorite episodes. You really seemed to capture the essence of Pam with this one.
Author's Response: Thanks, jkfan. It's one of my favorite episodes too, and that week between BG and TJ will always be interesting to think about. Glad you liked it-- thanks for letting me know. :)
Date: April 09, 2011 05:14 am Title: the hardest thing
1st, thanks for not abandoning this to the tomb of the unknown fanfic. 2nd, the lost week is more often written from Jim's pov, so thanks for giving us Pam's half of that mysterious equation.
And mostly, thanks for doing it so well. You've distilled her emotional arc into well observed moments - looking for hope in are we out of toner (semiotics was never so bittersweet); saying good luck, not goodbye; her strained dynamic with Karen; and my fave: His profile is harder, each side so different. Literally true about his face, but also such an eloquent metaphor for her sense of being caught between the Jim she hopes is still there (hers) and the newfangled one she fears he may have become (Karen's)...The scattered pieces of Jim all around her...
Each brief section is as rich as a chapter. Complex emotions/specific characterization in few words - knowing when enough is enough...man, I love a well crafted one-shot. Haven't read much fic lately, so this was an especially lovely treat.
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Author's Response: Thanks so much, Colette. This particular week has always inspired my imagination but it does seem like Pam always gets left out of the equation, doesn't it? I guess because we pretty much already know what's going on in her mind; Jim's the mystery, here. I'm glad you liked it, thanks for letting me know. :)
Date: April 08, 2011 05:07 pm Title: the hardest thing
That was beautiful.I smile everytime I thinkabout Jim walking in and asking her to dinner... :)
Author's Response: Yeah, me too. Thanks, Hannah. :)
Date: April 08, 2011 09:16 am Title: the hardest thing
Poignantly sweet...a perfect little gem of a story!
Author's Response: Thank you! :)
9 [Report This]Date: April 08, 2011 08:42 am Title: the hardest thing
Thanks for recalling that incandescent moment so beautifully.
Author's Response: Aw, thanks, jinx. It was nice to feel like finishing up a fic again. :)
10 [Report This]Date: April 08, 2011 07:47 am Title: the hardest thing
This is what I feel is missing in recent fic. You say so much with so little (or no) dialog, where many others are mostly conversation. You allow us to peek into their emotional state, let us share the same sentiment, without confirming it with instructive words.
All around beautiful, Callisto. Thank you for sharing, darling.
Author's Response: What a wonderful compliment. Thank you so much! Keeping it simple is actually harder, I think. I'm glad you liked it. Again, thank you! :)
10 [Report This]Date: April 08, 2011 07:07 am Title: the hardest thing
Callisto, a new fic from you is always cause for celebration. Even if it wasn’t Friday, it would feel like one :) Pam’s slow transition from patience to resignation to elation is a thing of beauty. Karen is polite, if no longer friendly. Her smiles are forced, her eye contact fleeting and guarded. Pam feels like she needs to say something about what happened at the beach, but she can’t seem to get her alone, and she doesn’t want to do it in front of Jim. I like this passage. I could perfectly envision Pam’s little talk with Karen without your having to restate the dialog. Still, she got to say goodbye, although she made sure to say good luck instead…It’s more than she got last time. Such a sense of melancholy. Makes me so very happy that everything was just fine in the end : ) Thanks for the visit, buddy. Stellar work, as always.
Author's Response: Hi Nan! Great to hear from you. It makes me happy that you pointed out that passage-- I like it too, and was struggling with a way to distill not only the awkwardness, but find some plausible explanation why she waited so long to talk to Karen (besides "it's TV and we had to see it"). It's fun to read the angst when you know how it ends, isn't it? :)
10 [Report This]Date: April 08, 2011 06:10 am Title: the hardest thing
I loved this Callisto - SO good to see something new from you. I’ve always loved the time period between Beach Games and The Job – I love glimpses into their heads for that time frame. I do believe that Pam would have been fine, but at the same time a part of her deep down inside would have been heartbroken for quite some time if he left again. And I will never forget the sinking feeling in my stomach when he walked out of the office with Karen and didn’t look back – that was a very pointed moment in that episode and I’m glad you brought it up here. I also loved this: Still, she got to say goodbye, although she made sure to say good luck instead.
It’s more than she got last time. I have always believed that when Jim left the first time he never told her first and never said goodbye, and I can only imagine how she felt when she found out. So thank you for this lovely little piece it was a nice thing to wake up to on a dreary Friday morning. I may have read it more than a few times ;)
Author's Response: Thanks kells! That passage you point out was probably my favorite part, or at least one of the reasons I wanted to post this. It killed me (still kind of does!) when he walks out without looking back. One can only imagine how sad that must have made Pam, thinking he was probably gone for good this time. Thanks for the review. I'm glad you still like my stuff. :)