Brainfail?
Maybe I’ve completely snapped. Or maybe some editor out there thinks I have. Or at least a webmaster. Allow me to explain. No, there is too much; let me sum up.
A couple weeks ago, I sent a submission status query to a magazine using their “Contact Us” page on their website. I never heard back, so I went to their website today to try again. I cannot find that contact page.
Have they changed the page? Maybe, especially if it wasn’t working. At least as likely is the possibility that I had six different sites up at once and sent the query to the wrong magazine.
Go ahead and say it: “Wow, that’s dumb.” Maybe your interior monologue was kinder than that. I suspect it was way harsher. Mine was.
For those who visit frequently, you know I am fairly open about my missteps in professionalism. In other words, when I screw up, I blog about it. Why? Because misery loves company. And to warn other writers of the little things that can go wrong when your brain is not functioning while corresponding with (other) professionals. And to let you kind folks feel a little less alone when you screw up (because you know it’s happened, though maybe not as often as I do). Or to give hope to people in the “If that idiot can do it than I can” tradition.
Anyway, I hope the message is properly disposed of by environmentally friendly means (such as the delete button).
Scott W. Baker: Chaos out of Chaos 
Dude, no one is going to care. If the email doesn’t apply (ie you sent query about a sub you never submitted there), they’ll just go “huh” and delete it. As long as you don’t spew personal vitriol all over an editor/slush reader/etc… likely no one will even remember. 🙂
Look at it this way, I miss-marked a submission, put the story up online for pay (sold a few copies), then got accepted by the place I’d thought had rejected me, and they STILL published the story even though I’d technically screwed up about as bad as you can. (Worst apparently, from what I’ve heard talking to editors, is sim-subbing and selling to one without telling the other, apparently editors will remember things like that and it can hurt your chances). Every professional makes mistakes, even the editors. It’s part of life.
So my inner monologue is sitting here wondering what the problem is? 🙂 At worst you’ve accidentally queried somewhere that doesn’t have a clue what you’re talking about, or perhaps submitted your story to a place you didn’t intend/mark down as submitted. Either way, you’re fine. Hopefully you can sort out what happened and figure out where you story is (do you have a way to search emails? Did you submit via email? or was it hard copy sub?)
Good luck. You’re not an idiot, just human 🙂
Story wasn’t lost (that I know of), just the query.