htaccess file and simple link cloaker

When I tried to delete a link I had made with simple link cloaker, I immediately got a 505 internal server error in both the site and admin panel. I deleted the .htaccess file and Simple Link Cloaker, and was able to get back into both. I reinstalled simple link cloaker. Now it says “Your .htaccess file does not appear to be writable. If you are unable to make the file writable by the server, you will need to copy/paste the redirect rules to your htaccess file manually.” I saved a copy of the .htaccess file before I deleted it. How should I proceed to remedy this situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!