diff --git a/secretary.py b/secretary.py
index 798d27f..b32bede 100644
--- a/secretary.py
+++ b/secretary.py
@@ -320,14 +320,13 @@ class Renderer(object):
         return xml_text
 
     def _encode_escape_chars(self, xml_text):
-        encode_rules = {
-            '(?i)(<text:(?:[ahp]|ruby-base|span|meta|meta-field)>.*)(\n)(.*</text:(?:[ahp]|ruby-base|span|meta|meta-field)>)': r'\1<text:line-break/>\3',
-            '(?i)(<text:(?:[ahp]|ruby-base|span|meta|meta-field)>.*)(\u0009)(.*</text:(?:[ahp]|ruby-base|span|meta|meta-field)>)': r'\1<text:tab>\3',
-            '(?i)[\u0009|\u000d|\u000a](?:(?![</?|>]))': '<text:s/>'
-        }
-
-        for p, r in encode_rules.items():
-            xml_text = re.sub(p, r, xml_text)
+        # Replace line feed and/or tabs within text span entities.
+        find_pattern = r'(?is)<text:([\S]+?)>([^>]*?([\n|\t])[^<]*?)</text:\1>'
+        for m in re.findall(find_pattern, xml_text):
+            print(m[1])
+            replacement = m[1].replace('\n', '<text:line-break/>')
+            replacement = replacement.replace('\t', '<text:tab/>')
+            xml_text = xml_text.replace(m[1], replacement)
 
         return xml_text
 
@@ -455,10 +454,9 @@ class Renderer(object):
             return final_xml
         
         except:
-            self.log.debug('Error rendering template:\n%s',
-                           xml_document.toprettyxml())
+            self.log.error('Error rendering template:\n%s',
+                           xml_document.toprettyxml(), exc_info=True)
             raise
-
         finally:
             self.log.debug('Rendering xml object finished')
 
diff --git a/test_secretary.py b/test_secretary.py
index c95824a..766a971 100644
--- a/test_secretary.py
+++ b/test_secretary.py
@@ -45,12 +45,11 @@ class RenderTestCase(TestCase):
             '<text:a>\n</text:a>': '<text:a><text:line-break/></text:a>',
             '<text:h>\n</text:h>': '<text:h><text:line-break/></text:h>',
             '<text:p>\n</text:p>': '<text:p><text:line-break/></text:p>',
+            '<text:p>Hello\n</text:p>': '<text:p>Hello<text:line-break/></text:p>',
+            '<text:p>Hello\nWorld\n!</text:p>': '<text:p>Hello<text:line-break/>World<text:line-break/>!</text:p>',
             '<text:ruby-base>\n</text:ruby-base>': '<text:ruby-base><text:line-break/></text:ruby-base>',
-            '<text:meta>\u0009</text:meta>': '<text:meta><text:tab></text:meta>',
+            '<text:meta>\u0009</text:meta>': '<text:meta><text:tab/></text:meta>',
             '<text:meta-field>\n</text:meta-field>': '<text:meta-field><text:line-break/></text:meta-field>',
-            '\u0009': '<text:s/>',
-            '\u000d': '<text:s/>',
-            '\u000a': '<text:s/>',
         }
 
         for test, expect in test_samples.items():