Two practical questions

[rachelmanija]

1. I recently sent out a business-related email with an attachment, basically hitting up an acquaintance for a job. He didn't respond. Someone here suggested that his system might have deleted my email, mistaking it for spam because of the attachment. So I'm thinking I should email again to see if he received it. However, I don't want to pester him if he did get it and is contemplating it quietly.

How long does one usually wait for a response before e-mailing again to say, "Did you get my first email?" This is not a writing submission, but about teaching writing.

2. Does anyone know why LJ is saying I'm posting in the afternoon when it's actually morning? I checked my computer time, and it's correct. Could I still be in the dream?

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Or am I a clown who dreamed she was a writer?

Comments

[the_rck]

I think LJ sometimes labels things in GMT or something like that (at least that's been my theory when I've noticed it happening). I'm in Eastern time, and whatever this is seems to be several hours ahead of where I am (5-6 hours, I think).

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I should think that waiting a couple days would be reasonable. Something along the lines of "I was wondering if you had received my earlier email; could you let me know if this is the case?" ought to work.

[sarge-5150.livejournal.com]

For me it depends on how well I know the person. If it's someone I've never met before, I'd probably wait at least two weeks. If it was a close acquaintance, I'd probably wait a couple of days. Pro rata for those in between.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I'd wait 1-2 weeks, depending on how long I'd known the person.

For the time zone thing, check your time zone settings at http://www.livejournal.com/manage/profile/.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[pzb.livejournal.com]

I would wait 5-7 days on something like that, and just drop a nice little note with something to the effect of mentioning that sometimes attachments get dropped... I've had it happen myself several times. It's not completely unheard of.

I had the same thing happen last night with one post, but not with the other two...... So I have no idea what caused it, but I'll watch to see if it does it again should I post later...

*waves*

[crowyhead.livejournal.com]

Hi, thought I should announce myself -- I just added your journal to my friends list after finding it through mroctober's. Not to be a complete dork, but mostly just wanted to tell you that I truly loved All the Fishes Come Home to Roost, and it was probably one of my favorite books of 2005. So anyway, please feel free to add me back if you'd like, or not, either way is cool.

Re: *waves*

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's great to hear that. Thank you very much!

Telling writers you loved their book never makes them think you're a dork. It makes them think you are a highly perceptive and intelligent person with excellent taste. ;)

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

The standard time lag for follow-up calls or emails is 1 week. If you're really in a hurry about something, add a line to the *first* email you send, saying "I will contact you later this week to discuss this further." Then you can email or phone after only 2 or 3 days, and say, "Hi. I sent you email about [writing class or whatever] on Tuesday, and I was wondering if you received it, and if you had any questions about that?"

That gives your contact the chance to say, "what email? I didn't get any email from you? where did you send it?" It also lets them say, "I'm not working on that project anymore. If you're interested in that sort of thing, you should call so-and-so." If he's contemplating it quietly, he'll say, "Yes, I received it Tuesday. We won't be making any decisions about that until November, but I'll get back to you as soon as I know something." And at least you know something about timing you didn't know before. A single follow-up is not pestering...repeated follow-ups with no response is what feels like pestering.