I write technical copy for a living, and I can't seem to stop typing when I get home. I started writing Office fiction as a way to revive my creativity, which I'm happy to say has worked.
I welcome any and all constructive criticism. If you have a suggestion for me, and don't want to leave it in a review, please PM or e-mail me. I have a pretty thick skin, so don't be shy!
Three years have passed since Pam left Scranton for New York, and Jim is still very much on her mind. Will a work-related trip to Rome, Italy be the catalyst that reunites Pam with Jim once and for all?
10 This is one of the few stories that I check back for every time I'm online (other recent ones were Stolen and the gorgeous Map of the World). I love that this story is taking its time... Chapter 6 and Pam's just discovered they are both in Rome! You are also spoiling us with some truly lush and vivid descriptions. The Trevi Fountain a few chapters back stands out, as does the Mouth of Truth in this one. Maybe I should just go out and get dinner already, but I'd love some lovely food scenes, since food is such a big part of a visit to Italy.
Author's Response: Unfortunately I'm not a big fan of Italian food (blasphemous, I know... especially since I'm half Italian! LOL) so it's very difficult for me to write lovely eating scenes. I can promise you in the near future though that there will be several more "locational" scenes- so hopefully that will make up for the lack of eating (ah, who needs to eat anyway! LOL) Thanks so much for the wonderful compliments- you are such a sweetheart to say such nice things- so thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
unfold and I were talking and it lead to this, somehow.
Jim/Pam Smutcake.
8 This is a great beginning! I must agree that Pam's request is a fairly tame one, but if you're going to make this a series, that might be for the best. I mean, you have to build to something, don't you? This leaves plenty of room for escalation. My suggestion for an upcoming Post-it would be "Would you pretend to pick me up at a night club?" That's always fun.
It's about damn time -- not only for Pam & Jim to go on a date, but for me to get in on this whole fanfic writing thing. I hear it's the next big thing. 10 Appreciative applause, lisahoo! You are an awesome and generous reviewer (and Photoshop queen)... it's great to see you showing off your writing chops as well. This was as cute and fluffy as a baby bunny.
Author's Response: What can I say? Jim with no pants -- who doesn't love that? Thanks for the review, AW!
A year or two before the cameras arrived, Michael takes the staff to the Poconos for a camaraderie event. Much unresolved sexual tension and angst ensues (uh, between Jim & Pam, not the entire staff).
10 This is so funny! You've captured the exact tone of a Jim/Dwight exchange. I love this:
Were you raised in an Amish community 43.6 miles away from the nearest populated area?" "Oh my god." Jim's eyes widen, and he draws back a little. "How did you know that?"
Such a treat to see a review from you - just read your latest (and was absolutely DELIGHTED to see that you'd posted something new), and it was amazing. I'm glad you liked the Jim/Dwight exchange; there are so many authors around here (yourself included) who seem to just excel at capturing everybody's voices (not just Jim & Pam's), yet I always find it so daunting. So it's always nice to hear someone say the voices rang true.
Thanks again for the review (and the awesome new fic) --
10 Well, this is very good indeed! The slap in the face of being called her best friend "next to Roy" is palpable, and the whole "Careless Whisper" exchange is delightful. And with that chapter ending, I'm sooo happy to hear that another update is around the corner!
Author's Response: ...And that is high praise coming from you! (I'm stupidly addicted to "Talk.") Thanks so much for the review!
10 Oh, girl7, you talented soul! I really like the way you've taken bits of canon here and made them play so differently because of all the backstory you've created. It's smart, and it works really well, especially Jim's elation when Pam admits she's sober. I'm looking forward to alternate endings, too, but I suspect this one's going to be my favorite!
Author's Response:
Well again - always such amazing compliments coming from you, given that I'm such a fan of your stuff. :o) I'm glad you liked this -- and yeah, I think the AU stuff will be lots of fun to write, but I was really attached to the idea of creating a situation that could have possibly happened, you know?
Anyway - thanks so much for the review!
While MTT was down for a brief time one night, I wrote a couple 55 word fics in the TWOP thread about Jim and Pam reading fanfic. I will likely continue this as a long running series, referencing my favorite stories and also newer stories as they come about.
10 Hee. I'm referenced in a fanfic. How very meta. These are very funny, and I hope you keep going, The Famous larrymcg!
WYDM is Scranton's local radio station, with our favorite paper-pushers as DJs. Kelly gossips, Angela gives advice, Toby does traffic, and there's a new guy doing the morning show that's causing quite a stir...
9 Wendy Blue! I never saw this coming, at all. Fantastic and funny! You've done a wonderful job with all the voices. "Clue-phone, it's for you," from Andy is priceless, as is Michael calling Jim "Gigantor" and refusing to remember that Stanley doesn't do an R&B show. I also like how Jim's already inclined to be friends with Pam before he even meets her. Well done!
Author's Response:
Thanks Annabel! I'm really glad you liked this! I'm relieved to know that you think I'm staying true to the character's voices; it's a tricky thing to do in an AU setting.
Thanks again so much for reading!
their flaws might just doom them.10 I love this. I love every part of this. I just read the first seven chapters in a rush, like a crazy woman.
So many things to love, but in this last chapter, the "Would you still love me if I looked like this?" game is such a realistic touch. Silly and quirky, and so sad as a half-hearted attempt to find an escape route. Sigh. Whenever I read something this awesome, I get all envious.
10 The way this is put together is brilliant; you've slipped in these great character details that make the whole thing realistic and sort of off-balance, in the way that real thoughts always are (I hope that makes some kind of sense). Example: the idea that Jim's always pictured Pam in a certain setting ("above some non-descript store"), that he's been building a specific backdrop for her within a "blurry fantasy". I love the U-turn. To hell with food!
Great Depression AU.10 Wow! This story went away before I could read it (though of course I'd heard people rave about it) and somehow snuck back up while I wasn't watching. I am so excited to finally get a chance to read it... I am only on Chapter 10 so far, but this is so, so beautiful. Roy is breaking my heart a little, which is a new experience.
Author's Response: Thanks, A W! He broke my heart, too. This was the beginning of my Roy sympathy.
This is the last of my "near miss" rewrites for season three episodes. This one is based on "The Negotiation" and also a Pam talking head from "Michael's Birthday". It's also more angsty than the others.This is so lovely. I read the whole thing in one go yesterday evening. The strange but coherent coma dreams are wonderful, and remind me somewhat of Michael Ondaatje (who isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I adore him). My favorite is the final coma sequence, in which Pam is somehow simultaneously in the tide and of the tide, if that makes sense.
The last chapter is so understated and true; my husband was hospitalized a few years ago (not with a brain injury). Though he's completely recovered, whenever I see his scar, I feel just what you describe here: a gift reminding me never to take him for granted. I assume you've had a similar experience. If that's so, thank you for articulating it so honestly; if not, you have amazing insight!
Oh Lordy... Coincidentally, am in middle of my second trimester as you are writing this. Boy howdy, do you have this right, with the sweet and the salty and the other cravings. And boys wearing glasses is the living end of sexy, pregnant or not. This story is so steamy and fun... I love how Pam's yearning for a place she's never been seems to be resolving into realization that the present is a new country, too. So lovely, as always, Colette!
Author's Response: What a lovely way to put it - kind of a whole new territory, that she's just getting comfortable inhabiting. In another story (Ordinary Life), I had Jim thinking of Pam as a place, so kind of a similar idea. Pleased to hear you felt the heat and share the boys in glasses lurve. Thanks so much Annabel! And how great that you have a bambino(a) on the way - congratulations!
He called Pam a mistake, unimportant, nothing, nothing, nothing at all to him. He regretted it immediately, called her his best friend and wished he could just call her on the damn phone and ask where it all went wrong and why she held his hands so tight while she broke his heart.
This is awesome and heart-wrenching, shootingstars! I love the repetition of call throughout this, as a way of underlining the importance and power of names. I'd never thought of Beesly as a subtle affirmation of "engaged ain't married" before!
Member's Choice - For just a brief second, he feels almost happy. Or at least not unhappy. Maybe the absence of unhappiness is the new happy.10 He wonders if passion is just another childish idea he needs to get over.
So very good, as usual, Colette! The same sort of complacent, dispassionate stasis that we saw Pam caught in for the first two seasons is Jim's "New Happy" as well. And you've perfectly captured the nagging doubts that keep him from ever looking totally satisfied with his chosen path. I love the line above, and what it implies about other ideas Jim's given up as "childish."
Jim comes back, Pam's late, and it's time to talk. Takes place in the summer between S3 and S4.10 Wow! I love that you went the road-less-travelled route and let them dodge the bullet... at least for now. Wonderful transition from the lighter tone of the first half to the introspective second half.
And I laughed out loud at the stripper's cleavage exchange. Not in a cliched internet kind of way; I actually laughed audibly, and I don't do that.
A golf pencil, two hot sauce packets, a Boggle timer, a mixtape, a high school yearbook photo, a card, and a teapot. Yup.10 I read this yesterday, and only just now noticed the dedication to me! I am very honored! There's so much to like here, but I wanted to bring up one detail which is very true-to-life: Pam's compulsion to share things with Jim about herself and her relationship with Roy, for reasons she doesn't fully understand. This is a great observation about people in these situations, and rings so true to me. Wonderful work, as always!
Author's Response: It\'s a well-earned dedication, Ms. Winslow. Thanks so much for your review. I\'m glad I\'m not the only one for whom compulsive sharing is normal. :) I owe you an email - it\'ll be coming in the next couple of days. I hope.
10 This is so lovely and sad, especially the last line. I like Jim's possibilities, and the fact that he doesn't buy the first one at all, even in this context. Smut or a barn dance, you say?
Author's Response: Jim somehow manages to be a romantic and a realist at the same time. I\'m pretty sure that has something to do with his crushingly low self-esteem. And, yeah, smut or a barn dance. You heard anything about that?
9 Alex Sebastian Wert, why is this not updated? Hurry up with the cracked second chapter, or risk being hit by lightning and a rogue maple tree!
10 And now we will all have to make some paper fans. Coincidentally, I'm totally comfortable with cute girls thinking dirty things about Jim too.
I must read this collection of essays.
Yet another post-The Job story, covering the week after the first date, and some fallout.
All finished now! Thanks for reading.
10 This is so simple and natural, and it works really well! You have a nice light touch for dialogue. I've often totally ignored the point you address head-on here: that Jim was (at least superficially) having the time of his life with Karen just a few hours before his first date with Pam. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this!
Author's Response: Thanks! It's something I've thought about for a while and finally had to get out. I was never sure that the transition from Karen to Pam would be 100% seamless for him.
Jim and Pam are faced with the uncertainty of a future at Dunder-Mifflin. This is about the problems this might occur for our favorite newlyweds under these circumstances. 10 This is the first fic I've read since MTT started doing that weird thing with the red screen, and I am so very impressed. This was sexy and smart and fun. You made the emotions of the fight very real, which paid off beautifully in Part 4.
I love this, and wish I'd written it first:
But even to her own ears she sounded like she was begging for something else, and maybe she was.
To conclude, you are awesome.
10 The opening line of this is so gorgeous and lyrical, I had to read it about five times. Actually, that whole first paragraph is amazing.
10 Just read this today, on a lazy rainy Saturday. I am somewhat floored by your take on the break-up scene, because it is so perfect and familiar, somehow: not that I've read it before but that it seems to be such a natural extension of the characters that it seems real. I am a big fan of this, and of you!
Author's Response: Thank you! I'm so glad the break up scene seems to be ringing true to character for people because God knows I struggled with it. I'm a big fan of yours as well. Thanks so much for reviewing. Hope to hear from you again.