diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 8a5acf76..f76ce781 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 1.8.14.dev0
- * #896: Fix error in borgmatic rcreate/init on empty repository directory with Borg 1.4.
+ * #896: Fix an error in borgmatic rcreate/init on an empty repository directory with Borg 1.4.
+ * Fix for a potential traceback (TypeError) during the handling of another error.
  * Add a recent contributors section to the documentation, because credit where credit's due! See:
    https://torsion.org/borgmatic/#recent-contributors
 
diff --git a/borgmatic/commands/borgmatic.py b/borgmatic/commands/borgmatic.py
index 31e72724..c5b1e4ea 100644
--- a/borgmatic/commands/borgmatic.py
+++ b/borgmatic/commands/borgmatic.py
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ def load_configurations(config_filenames, overrides=None, resolve_env=True):
                         )
                     ),
                     logging.makeLogRecord(
-                        dict(levelno=logging.CRITICAL, levelname='CRITICAL', msg=error)
+                        dict(levelno=logging.CRITICAL, levelname='CRITICAL', msg=str(error))
                     ),
                 ]
             )