diff --git a/external/cmd/help/main.go b/external/cmd/help/main.go
index ff8b63f..f9404c1 100644
--- a/external/cmd/help/main.go
+++ b/external/cmd/help/main.go
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import (
 
 // TODO put colorscheme, prompting stuff into own packages for use in the other commands. would be good to get off of survey.
 
+// TODO use new lockingwriter for logging in the other external commands
+
 func connectDB() (*sql.DB, error) {
 	db, err := sql.Open("sqlite3", "/town/var/codes/codes.db?mode=rw")
 	if err != nil {
@@ -125,7 +127,7 @@ func (p *Prompter) Select(prompt string, opts []string) (int, error) {
 
 func _main(cs colorScheme) error {
 	lw := lockingwriter.New()
-	l := log.New(lw, "help", log.Ldate|log.Ltime|log.LUTC|log.Lshortfile|log.Lmsgprefix)
+	l := log.New(lw, "help: ", log.Ldate|log.Ltime|log.LUTC|log.Lshortfile|log.Lmsgprefix)
 
 	db, err := connectDB()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/external/lockingwriter/lockingwriter.go b/external/lockingwriter/lockingwriter.go
index a02c3fb..899143f 100644
--- a/external/lockingwriter/lockingwriter.go
+++ b/external/lockingwriter/lockingwriter.go
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 // for now this package defines a writer for use with log.New(). It it intended to be used from the external ssh applications. This logger uses a file lock to allow all the various ssh applications to log to the same file.
+// the correct way to do this is to send log events to a daemon
+// but i'm trying to cut a corner
 
 type LockingWriter struct {
 	path string
@@ -20,10 +22,10 @@ const (
 
 func New() *LockingWriter {
 	f, err := os.OpenFile(fp, os.O_EXCL|os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY, 0660)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err != nil && !os.IsExist(err) {
 		panic(err)
 	}
-	defer f.Close()
+	f.Close()
 
 	return &LockingWriter{
 		path: fp,
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ func (l *LockingWriter) Write(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
 	}
 
 	var f *os.File
-	f, err = os.OpenFile(l.path, os.O_APPEND|os.O_WRONLY, 0600)
+	f, err = os.OpenFile(l.path, os.O_APPEND|os.O_WRONLY, 0660)
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
@@ -51,5 +53,12 @@ func (l *LockingWriter) Write(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
 	defer f.Close()
 	defer fl.Unlock()
 
-	return f.Write(p)
+	n, err = f.Write(p)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	return
+	//return f.Write(p)
 }