Believe me, I feel your pain! This has caused me more than one fit of rage. If your listing was not saved, I'm afraid it is gone. The safest way to safeguard your description is to periodically copy it to Word or Notepad. Make a copy even before clicking a SAVE button or anything else, as even the act of saving can cause a crash. Or like you mentioned, write it out first then copy to Auctiva.