Erika Dreifus

I’m happy to report that my auto-response message is now disabled. The crisis is over!

OK. I just need to vent. The web hosting services I pay for from one of the big companies have been, to put it mildly, less than dependable. I really try to pride myself on being organized and effective in all my correspondence and it is so frustrating when a “higher power,” so to speak–especially one I’m paying hefty monthly fees for–lets me down.

The latest glitch (and there have been many!) is that I cannot remove/disable my auto-response message. It was in place from the middle of last week to yesterday, telling anyone who contacted me that I would be away from my e-mail through January 2. Last night I tried to remove that message. The trouble is all my correspondents–including, this morning, no fewer than five editors (at last count)–now must be thinking that I don’t know enough to turn the auto-response off. That I am not detail-oriented. That I don’t know what day it is.

Yes, I’ve checked with the web hosting company. Yes, they’re having a problem which is interfering with my ability to be–and appear–professional. No, they haven’t yet announced it on their own Web site. No, they don’t know when it will be fixed.

Well, I just hope it’s fixed soon. I don’t like being made to look sloppy. And I don’t like thinking that something I am already aware of and *want* to fix may negatively affect my writing practice, even in a small way.

Rant over. Thanks.

Orion magazine is looking for freelance contributors. Read the announcement at JournalismJobs.com.

Two no-cost contests to report–both with deadlines early in the new year.

First, if you’ve read Bruce Holland Rogers’s article on fixed forms for prose writers in the January 2006 Writer magazine you may already know about the Fixed-form challenge, a 69-word story contest. Rogers will judge the top 20 stories. The winner received $50 and a free subcription to The Writer; two runners-up will receive subscriptions; winning stories will be posted on the magazine’s website. Deadline: January 2.

Then, the current Maisonneuve Literary Contest is up and running, with a January 3 deadline. The editors are apparently looking ahead to springtime: “It’s time to defrost! Along with pollen and the smell of wet grass, that little thing called love is in the air. We want to celebrate spring, so we’re calling for stories of young love–ironic, unrequited, dejected or entirely genuine.” You should send “8-800 brilliant words of poetry or prose.” Submit one prose piece OR two poems. First prize includes $100 and publication in the print magazine. Second- and third-prize winners will receive a year’s subscription and their work will appear on maisonneuve.org. Note that “all other entries may be published online.”

Good luck!

Check out our winter schedule of workshops and seminars–all designed to enrich your writing practice–right here.