diff --git a/senju/haiku.py b/senju/haiku.py
index b86951c..969eec0 100644
--- a/senju/haiku.py
+++ b/senju/haiku.py
@@ -29,23 +29,32 @@ class Haiku:
             "eval_count": 20
         }
 
+        tries = 0
         while True:
+            tries += 1
             try:
                 r = requests.post(url=url,
                                   json=ai_gen_request)
                 ai_response = str(r.json()["response"])
 
-                logging.warning(ai_response)
+                logging.debug(f"ai response: {ai_response}")
 
                 lines = ai_response.split("\n")
 
                 while len(lines) != 3:
                     lines.pop()
 
-                logging.warning(lines)
+                logging.info(f"lines for haiku: {lines}")
 
-                if len(lines) != 3:
-                    continue
+                if len(lines) < 3:
+                    if tries < 20:
+                        logging.warning(f"too few lines, trying again")
+                        logging.debug(lines)
+                        continue
+                    else:
+                        logging.warning(f"too many tries, aborting")
+                        raise Exception(
+                            "Generating the haiku took too many tries")
 
                 haiku = Haiku(
                     [
@@ -55,8 +64,9 @@ class Haiku:
                     ])
 
                 break
-            except json.JSONDecodeError:
-                continue
+            except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
+                logging.error(f"error while reading json from LLM: {e}")
+                raise e
 
         return haiku