diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 735d135f..9a39c7e6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [unreleased]
 ### Fixed
+- Regression in v0.5.2 where plotting processes that lack log files caused a traceback.
+  ([#926](https://github.com/ericaltendorf/plotman/pull/926))
 ### Added
 
 ## [0.5.2] - 2021-09-12
diff --git a/src/plotman/job.py b/src/plotman/job.py
index 198ff674..1dc1444f 100644
--- a/src/plotman/job.py
+++ b/src/plotman/job.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import glob
 import time
 from datetime import datetime
+import sys
 import typing
 
 import attr
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@ class Job:
 
     plotter: "plotman.plotters.Plotter"
 
-    logfile: str = ""
+    logfile: typing.Optional[str] = None
     job_id: int = 0
     proc: psutil.Process
 
@@ -189,10 +190,11 @@ def get_running_jobs(
                                 plotter=plotter,
                                 logroot=logroot,
                             )
-                            # TODO: stop reloading every time...
-                            with open(job.logfile, "rb") as f:
-                                r = f.read()
-                            job.plotter.update(chunk=r)
+                            if job.logfile is not None:
+                                # TODO: stop reloading every time...
+                                with open(job.logfile, "rb") as f:
+                                    r = f.read()
+                                job.plotter.update(chunk=r)
                             jobs.append(job)
 
         return jobs
@@ -254,6 +256,10 @@ def status_str_long(self) -> str:
         #     )
 
     def print_logs(self, follow: bool = False) -> None:
+        if self.logfile is None:
+            print("no log file available for this plotting process", file=sys.stderr)
+            return
+
         with open(self.logfile, "r") as f:
             if follow:
                 line = ""