1 [Report This]Date: October 31, 2024 01:42 pm Title: Pregnancy Woes
Cute conversation between Jim and Gerald.
Really like the ending here where they come up with their compromise before their talking head, nice way to work that in!
Author's Response:
Thank you!
their bickering and lack of closeness in this season REALLY bothered me, so I need a reason why. Glad this worked out well :)
1 [Report This]Date: October 30, 2024 08:12 pm Title: Pregnancy Woes
Love the fatherly advice Jim is getting here. Great words of wisdom from Gerald in how to deal with some of these feelings. People tend to forget or gloss over the fact that men can and do have big feelings when it comes to pregnancy. Seeing the woman they love go through something so extreme and not knowing what to do can really stress a guy out. What is helpful one day will get his head bitten off the next. Yet many guys have it thrown in their face something along the lines of, "you're not the one giving birth so shut up!" Is it really any wonder why many guys tend to just hold things in?
Not Jim here though. He gets to have a great heart to heart with his father and it looks like it paid off really well. That Pam seems so taken on the idea of a weekend away is great. I imagine the idea of floating in a tub and letting some of the pressure off would be akin to heaven at that point. Great job as usual.
Author's Response:
You are darn right. I have seen so many men who are adrift without support, who struggle with postpartum anxiety of their own and who feel so untethered from the partner they love so much. I wanted to highlight that emotions are just reactions and to have that come from someone he loves and respects, that it is okay to be confused and angry.
1 [Report This]Date: October 28, 2024 03:54 pm Title: Pregnancy Woes
So lovely to see you post again! I miss your stories! I think this is one of my favorite ones of yours. You do such a sweet job of exploring these canon moments and they’re all very real. I just started listening to OL again and I’m in season 8 with all the weepiness, Pam’s Replacement, Big Pregs Little Pregs so this was perfect timing for me! I love that you deal with their difficult emotions as well as their joyful emotions. I’m glad that Jim had an outlet like his dad to listen. Don’t we all need the reminder that it’s okay to be angry, but that we can’t live in it? It such a great reminder via this scenario. Jim needed to let out that energy of anger about this pregnancy being so different than Cece— and it was extremely healthy. It also fits with this season 8 Jim who has been seeming to walk on eggshells this whole pregnancy with Pam. I love that when she needs him, he’s there— and vice versa. What a sweet little weekend away for them! Great job on this as usual. You’re so spot on with the emotions as always.
Author's Response:
I have had a rough year, but trying to come on back and at a minimum finish off the stories I started :)
I am so pleased this piece hit well. The last two seasons hurt so much, my feelings about how the writers kind of 'gave up' trying to write good Jim & Pam. Seemed they only had the 'when will they' story heart but once married and simply content parents they didn't know what to do with them. I hated seeing how little they touched once Pam was pregnant with Phillip, no more cute things between then and I wanted to call that out in a way that seemed to make sense to me. So glad I brought the right level of emotion and support from a little-known character.
1 [Report This]Date: May 31, 2024 06:16 am Title: A Little bit of Beans
This is just sweetest and I loved it soooo much! The language and the sunshine and Cece’s stompy kicks just narrated how Jam must be feeling after their special morning. There’s been a ton of ways people have written about Jim and Pam finding out she’s pregnant (both canon and not) but there’s something so sweet about how you show us the details around that moment and not the actual moment that makes it this sweet, sacred, golden hued moment of light. Kind of like the teapot note— not knowing is even more perfect. I love the juxtaposition with Michael’s proposal and the announcement that he’s moving… all things that make Pam feel unsafe… and Jim’s confidence in that he can keep his family safe. Such a sweet addition to this great theme!
Author's Response: I am so happy this little vignette hit so well. You are right, it is the not knowing… the not having each minute of the day. And, I was largely inspired by Jenna on OL saying that her shirt was out of her shirt because she had just found out her own pregnancy. So, to me, it was the best day to put such a memory!
1 [Report This]Date: May 30, 2024 12:31 am Title: A Little bit of Beans
Very sweet. Particularly liked this line ‘He would open and unpackage 100,000 candles to repay Michael for talking to him that night’
Author's Response: Yay!! I am glad that worked well. I really want this little series to be a bunch of sweet callbacks with little nods to the current situation.
1 [Report This]Date: May 29, 2024 10:49 pm Title: A Little bit of Beans
Awwww thank you so much! And this was lovely from beginning to end :)
Author's Response: I thank YOU for your wonderful story. It makes me smile each and every time I think of it and even my wife has accepted it as canon when I told her about it the last time we watched PDA :)
1 [Report This]Date: May 29, 2024 05:57 am Title: A Little bit of Beans
Very cute. I loved all the bits in the morning. The drive to daycare, Cecelia being adorable in the back seat, the memories of planning the bean prank. All great. Then Jim and Pam use their powers for good in helping Michael craft his proposal. Very sweet and sentimental for sure. I can also very easily see why Pam gets nervous. Change has always been hard for her. Now with a new baby on the way and Michael getting set to leave, it's two huge changes. Jim responds with a steady calmness though. Wonderful to see that. How he's committed to keeping things going for his family like this. Loved it.
Author's Response: Glad to have kickstarted the day well! It was a sweet day that I couldn’t get out of my mind, so it needed a sweet chapter here :)
Date: October 17, 2023 05:12 am Title: Five to Seven Minutes
This obe too was so cute!!
Author's Response: Wonderful! More to come soon. Enjoy!
1 [Report This]Date: October 17, 2023 05:07 am Title: Shout It
This is so cute!! Loved it
Author's Response: I am glad you enjoyed it!
1 [Report This]Date: October 12, 2023 05:52 pm Title: Five to Seven Minutes
So...I was brought back to both of the times my kids were born. The long labor my wife had for our first child and yeah a lot of those same thoughts. The second time around was a bit more chaotic but still a lot of the same thoughts. I'd take her pain on me if I could. Marveled at how she was able to bear it. Stayed right at her side the whole time. Whatever she needed, she got. And then there they were. These small little screaming people and everything else went out the window. There they were needing everything and now she and I get to be the ones to do that.
Outstanding job getting this from Jim's perspective. Makes me feel seen as a husband and father. Great job!
Author's Response: Awwww!!!! I am so glad it worked so well. This whole series is from Jim’s perfective so I was hesitant with this one, given the intense importance of the event.
1 [Report This]Date: October 12, 2023 01:14 pm Title: Five to Seven Minutes
Love Jim's frazzeledness coming through here, you can really see him pacing around and clenching his fists & jaw trying to keep calm.
Jim doing everything he can for Pam is just heart eye emojis all round
A great bit of fluff at a time when it's very much needed
Author's Response: That was my feeling, a bit of fluff and kindness was sorely needed in my noggin.
1 [Report This]Date: October 12, 2023 11:18 am Title: Five to Seven Minutes
bahhh just reliving my youngest's birth over here (we adopted our oldest at birth) and oh my lord you made me very emotional. So many I'm not crazy, she's crazy went through my brain at the time. And then Hazel was here and it was percfect. thank you thank you thank you! I need more
Author's Response:
Hahahahaha! Yea!!!! That crazy back and forth made me giggle so much in canon, I couldn’t not write it!
I love that it was perfect for you!!
1 [Report This]Date: October 12, 2023 11:08 am Title: Shout It
I ADORE that your father did that and you used it in your own story. That's so beautiful, and I'm obsessed with it. Also, falling in love with your partner when finding out you're having a baby, or when that baby comes out is something I will never forget. It truly couldn't have been more magical. Also..will every chapter end in the shower now? Because I'm living for it. Maube you should just call this: Soap lolol i love it!!
Author's Response: Hahaha! I actually have it in a few silly spaces in other stories. Some of Jim’s offhand comment in season 7 Valentines ‘we have a shower’ stuck in my head… but it is also one of the most vulnerable care tasks feelings that I adore. It shows trust and intimacy on more levels than just sex.
1 [Report This]Date: October 12, 2023 11:05 am Title: Safe and Sound
You know what I love about this? First of all these kinds of stories are my JAM, pun absolutely intended. Stress Relief's cold open has so many funny moments that it becomes distracting how actually terrifying that would have been and you've captured it so so well. Thank you for this! I love this genre of writing and I'm so stoked to read more!
Author's Response: Hehehe!!! I am so glad!!!!!
1 [Report This]Date: March 22, 2023 08:39 pm Title: Shout It
Awwww, that's adorable. Jim being so excited to be a dad and Pam just glowing about it all. And that he's going to be a dad with Pam. After all those years of heartache and angst they're really cemented together now. I adore how overwhelmed they are in this moment but are talking the time to enjoy it. Worries about various things will come later, but for now they're just together and it's great.
Author's Response: d84;a039;hoping to stay true to the canon sweetness of themd84;a039;
1 [Report This]Date: March 21, 2023 04:54 pm Title: Shout It
This was written with such heart!! I love your short sentence structure and your page breaks… just so perfect… like all of the things running through Jim and Pam’s minds at a thousand miles an hour at this incredible moment in their lives! You can just feel every ounce of happiness in their souls in the car ride home; can just feel Jim willing his energy through Pam’s belly to their “bundle of cells” to “grow little bit, grow”! I can also see them both thinking about going to the picnic being “both” but coming home being “all”.. what a crazy distinction!!! I love the distinct difference of him taking care of her in both stressful times (chapter 1) and joyous times (chapter 2) but still wanting to take care of her.
And what a sweet tribute to your dad.. how amazing to know how he reacted to the first idea of your being, too!!! Such pure and simple joy. Thanks for sharing something so person in this sweet Jam moment!
Author's Response:
You picked up every sweet piece I set down d84;a039;
I have a couple more moments rattling around in my brain, and I hope to get around to adding them!
There was nowhere else I could think of something personal being added 🥰
1 [Report This]Date: March 21, 2023 03:57 pm Title: Shout It
Oh this was so so cute. I loved how Jim was so excited here (and bless your dad too!!) but also so protective of both his loves. Really liked this a lot!!
Author's Response: I am glad you liked! I am enjoying this little bit of mind candy d84;a039;
Date: March 06, 2023 05:33 pm Title: Safe and Sound
oh this is so sweet. I love how Jim knows exactly how to help her in life, and he’s so good at comforting her in this time. I also really enjoy the insight into this, I certainly felt there was a lot unsaid for this episode.
Author's Response: Total agreement! There needed to be more to that, more fallout… of course, none of this reads well for comedy 🤪
1 [Report This]Date: March 06, 2023 03:20 pm Title: Safe and Sound
I thought this was really sweet— and so realistic. While this episode always cracks me up, it’s easy to see how the adrenaline rush would end just to lead to a rush of emotions in regards to what could have possibly went wrong— thank God it didn’t. It almost makes you wonder why Phyllis was the only one hesitant about signing Dwight’s “statement of regret”. While your spicy scenes have been great, this was just as good— Jim taking care of his girl, and having a quiet night to reflect after all this undue stress… love that Jim can relax once he knows Pam is relaxed. Thanks for posting!!
Author's Response: Thank you so much, I really love writing the sweet stuff, and some just clearly screamed at me from behind the scenes. Sweet writing can be just as much fun as spicy 💕
1 [Report This]Date: March 03, 2023 12:26 pm Title: Safe and Sound
I really like Jim the protector coming out in this one, and even though Pam is totally safe, he really wants to take care of her anyway he can. Nice work
Author's Response:
💜thanks💜
I felt that episode got off a little too easily with not having Jim carry out anger with Dwight, as say we saw him push back at Michael over the Golden Ticket fiasco. I wanted to see a little bit more and so I turned it a different direction towards his worry with Pam.
1 [Report This]Date: March 03, 2023 12:05 pm Title: Safe and Sound
I know it's TV and all and of course in a comedy like that they couldn't just have Dwight fired and hauled off to jail, but in actuality, per PA state law he committed aggravated arson that day. That's a felony. In the real world Dwight not only should have been fired for a stunt like that but arrested and hauled off to jail for a very long time. So in that sense I 100% get why Jim is reacting like this. A tenet of masculinity is being a protector and he's feeling like he failed that. It doesn't matter that in the end it was fake, in the moment it was real and the feelings are real too. So yeah I get why he'd just want to throw away and scrub the day away. Like you very well said, he couldn't take care of Pam then, despite trying to with the copier battering ram, but he can take care of her now. So they'll just hold each other and take solace in their nearness. Love that.
Author's Response:
EXACTLY! I get it that it is a tv comedy and they of course will play on the comedic factor. But that was absolutely an event with legal repercussions, not just a scolding from the company. As soon as that fire alarm was pulled and all the 911 response that would have arrived for both the fire and Stanley, Dwight would have been hauled off in cuff for that stunt.
I kept replaying in my mind what I thought could have happened for the two of them, after spending so long apart to now be faced with being trapped inside a burning building.
💜
1 [Report This]Date: March 03, 2023 09:58 am Title: Safe and Sound
Ahhh, I love a good Stress Relief fic. I mean, it's hilarious, but there's a lot to be mined there if it's taken seriously, and Jim is really very sweet here. Love this moment you've crafted for them!
Author's Response: Thank you! Agreed...so much to be mined from the show outside of the hijinks and narratives shared d84;a039;