diff --git a/cfddns.sh b/cfddns.sh
index 0fcd01f..41756d4 100644
--- a/cfddns.sh
+++ b/cfddns.sh
@@ -71,6 +71,19 @@ standardizeLogLevels() {
   esac
 }
 
+# modified syslog fmt: <ISO-8601 timestamp> <hostname> <tag>[pid]: [LEVEL:$2] [STATUS:$3] <MESSAGE:$1> (<OPERATION:$4>:<CODE:$5>)
+writePlainTextLog() {
+  # not enough information to generate a meaningful log message
+  if [ -z "$1" ] || [ $# -lt 3 ]; then
+    return
+  fi
+
+  printf "%s %s %s[%s]: [%s] [%s] %s (%s:%s)\n" \
+    "$(getTimeStamp)" "$(getHostname)" "$LOG_PROGRAM_NAME" "$$" \
+    "$(standardizeLogLevels "$2")" "$(uppercase "$3")" "$1" "${4:-UNSPECIFIED}" "${5:-999}" \
+    >>"$logFile"
+}
+
 ### functions
 badParam() {
   if [ "$1" = "null" ]; then