Yes, you read that right! I nearly had a heart attack the other day, and it was all my own fault!  

A little background on the incident: I use Zoho Writer to write my manuscripts. I love it because my co-authors can see everything and work in the same document simultaneously. It’s basically as if Google Docs and Microsoft Word had a baby and raised it right. My favorite feature? I can turn on a typewriter sound while I write, which thrills me far more than it should.

Okay. Now for the near-heart-attack portion of our program.

If you read my first newsletter of the year, you know I recently switched my website domain to www.samanthacolebooks.com. I set up a redirect from my old site to the new one, so anyone clicking an old link would be magically whisked to the new site. Seamless. Professional.  

Narrator voice: She was very proud of herself.

Two days later, I tried to log in to Zoho using my old domain email address… and couldn’t get in.

Narrator voice: Initiate sheer panic! 😵‍💫

I currently have over 23 works-in-progress living in Zoho, with word counts ranging from “just started” to “over 60,000 words.” Including Brian Malone’s book, which I only have a few chapters left to write. And Zoho? Zoho calmly informed me they had no record whatsoever of that email address. The same one I’d used for years. 

Narrator voice: Cue wanting to throw the laptop out the window or take a baseball bat to it.

I tried backup emails. I tried my phone number. That got me into an ancient Zoho account I created eight years ago, never used, and promptly forgot existed. I had recovery codes for the old domain email, but I couldn’t get past the fact that Zoho wouldn't recognize the address as a valid login.

Narrator voice: Insert tears, palpitations, hyperventilating, lightheadedness, and a lot of cursing here. 😭😭😭

I canceled the redirect and waited 24 hours for it to stop forwarding, fully expecting this to magically fix everything.

Narrator voice: It did not. Samantha is screwed. 😳

Day 3 of this cannot possibly be real: Filled with dread, I called Zoho support again. They asked me to forward any emails I’d ever received from them using the old domain address so they could investigate.

While searching for those emails—before I even forwarded any—one caught my eye.

It said I’d set up multi-factor authentication a few days before I lost access to Zoho.

Narrator voice: Hmm. Interesting.

I opened the email… and there it was. A QR code login link. Holding my breath, I scanned it.

PRESTO.

My account opened. All my manuscripts were there. Every single one. Safe and sound. 

Narrator voice: She nearly cries from relief. 🥲

I immediately went into my profile settings and discovered the problem. At some point, I'd changed my login email to a new Gmail account, rather than my new domain email. In my defense, they're similar. I also apparently set up MFA at the same time and don't remember doing either. At all.

Feeling like an absolute idiot, I updated my login info, added a fingerprint passkey, and set up every possible recovery option known to mankind so this never happens again. 

Narrator voice: God willing. 😇

So there you have it—my major near-heart-attack drama of the week. This was on top of building a brand-new website, updating links, blurbs, and covers, setting up my Shopify store, and untangling a brand-new newsletter system. 

2026 has come out swinging. And apparently, so have I. It's a good thing I don't own a baseball bat. 🤣🤣🤣