diff --git a/GITHUB_TOKEN.json.template b/GITHUB_TOKEN.json.template
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..70ae6154
--- /dev/null
+++ b/GITHUB_TOKEN.json.template
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+	"token":""
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/grunt/config/prompt.js b/grunt/config/prompt.js
index 92db710a..6c5c0878 100644
--- a/grunt/config/prompt.js
+++ b/grunt/config/prompt.js
@@ -318,8 +318,10 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
 					}
 				],
 				then: function (answers, done) {
-					if (answers['release.generatelogsmanually'] === true && answers['release.generatelogsmanuallystart'] !== '' && answers['release.generatelogsmanuallyend'] !== '') {
-						grunt.log.writeln('About to generate changelogs between ' + answers['release.generatelogsmanuallystart'] + ' and ' + answers['release.generatelogsmanuallyend'] + '.');
+					grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallystart', answers['release.generatelogsmanuallystart']);
+					grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallystart', answers['release.generatelogsmanuallystart']);
+					if (answers['release.generatelogsmanually'] === true && grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallystart') !== '' && grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallyend') !== '') {
+						grunt.log.writeln('About to generate changelogs between ' + grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallystart') + ' and ' + grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallyend') + '.');
 						grunt.log.writeln('There will be no more output for possibly several minutes.');
 						grunt.log.writeln('Thank you for your patience, have an ohana mahalo kilikilikiwana day.');
 						grunt.log.writeln('//TODO: Insert tiki dancing nyan cat here. --jschmidt');
diff --git a/grunt/config/shell.js b/grunt/config/shell.js
index 3e39acc3..1c6f626f 100644
--- a/grunt/config/shell.js
+++ b/grunt/config/shell.js
@@ -17,7 +17,16 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
 			command: 'github_changelog_generator --no-author --between-tags ' + originalVersion + ',' + getPackage().version + ' --compare-link -t ' + getGithubToken()
 		},
 		manualnotes: {
-			command: 'github_changelog_generator --no-author --between-tags ' + grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallystart') + ',' + grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallyend') + ' --compare-link -t ' + getGithubToken()
+			command: function () {
+				if (grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallystart') === undefined || grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallyend') === undefined){
+					grunt.log.write('release start and end must be specified. Run task with grunt prompt:generatelogsmanually');
+					return false;
+				}else{
+					grunt.log.write('Running: github_changelog_generator --no-author --between-tags ' + grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallystart') + ',' + grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallyend') + ' --compare-link -t ');
+					grunt.log.write('Please be patient.')
+					return 'github_changelog_generator --no-author --between-tags ' + grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallystart') + ',' + grunt.config('release.generatelogsmanuallyend') + ' --compare-link -t ' + getGithubToken()
+				}
+			}
 		},
 		checkoutRemoteReleaseBranch: {
 			// this makes a local branch based on the prior prompt, such as release_{TIMESTAMP}