diff --git a/delojza.py b/delojza.py
index 7e0a3f0..3a96e47 100755
--- a/delojza.py
+++ b/delojza.py
@@ -507,7 +507,7 @@ class MarkovBlabberer:
             self.logger.info("Sentence of the day: " + self.make_sentence())
 
     def make_sentence(self, tries=100):
-        return self.markov.make_sentence(tries=tries)
+        return self.markov.make_sentence(tries=tries) or "???"
 
     def add_to_corpus(self, text):
         text = text.lower()
@@ -536,6 +536,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     try:
         markov = MarkovBlabberer("initial.txt")
     except FileNotFoundError:
+        logging.warning("Didn't find `initial.txt`, continuing without markov blabbering!")
         markov = None
 
     delojza = DelojzaBot(config.get('delojza', 'tg_api_key'),