diff --git a/tools/emitter b/tools/emitter
index 50344b8..a117ba2 100755
--- a/tools/emitter
+++ b/tools/emitter
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ run_ansible(){
             while IFS= read -r ipa ; do
                 echo "Ansible for IP address '$ipa' failed."
             done < "$dir/$pbook.retry"
+            > "$dir/$pbook.retry"
         fi
     fi
 }