What a shock! Two days ago, when I went to my website at www.graceehowell.com, it was gone. In its place was a black and white amateurish mish-mash. I could not believe it! My precious website had vanished, lost in the darkness of cyberspace.

Here's what happened. When True Friends was published in 2005, my publisher wanted me to have a website, and they set one up for me. Less than a year later, at my request, they handed the website at Netfirms over to me. My grandson Dave became my webmaster, and I paid Netfirms for hosting. I asked the publisher about paying for the domain, and was told not to worry about it that I'd receive a notice before payment was due. I never received a notice.

Only after someone else was using my domain, did I learn from Netfirms that they did not provide the domain. That's when I heard about Godaddy and Sunil Nandal, who now holds my domain. I don't know who was paying Godaddy for the domain these last four years, and I guess now it doesn't really matter.

The hard lesson I've learned is: Be sure you know who holds your domain, when payment is due, and who will pay. Now I have a new domain that I registered and will continue to pay for.

My old website is actually safe at Netfirms, but it is too hard for me to handle without a lot of help. So for my new domain, I'm planning a totally new website, one I can manage on my own and change without help. Now I'm cramming like a college student before exams trying to learn enough to create a website. Hopefully, before the next century, I'll learn enough to put a simple website on line. Until then I'll see you here at my blog.