diff --git a/lib/git.js b/lib/git.js
index ed2034f..ab46dd4 100644
--- a/lib/git.js
+++ b/lib/git.js
@@ -35,19 +35,13 @@ async function push (origin, branch, execaOpts) {
   await execa('git', ['push', '--follow-tags', origin, `HEAD:${branch}`], execaOpts)
 }
 
-/**
- * Merges the master branch into the dev branch.  The devBranch must be specified
- * in the options for this to work.
- */
-async function mergeMasterIntoDev (context) {
+async function configureGit (context) {
   const {env, cwd, logger, options} = context
   const execaOpts = {env, cwd}
-  const {branch, devBranch, repositoryUrl} = options
-
-  logger.log('Merging master branch into dev branch')
 
   // fetch all branches because Travis doesn't do it for us
   // code copied from https://stackoverflow.com/a/44036486/269834
+  logger.log('configuring git')
   await execa(
     'git',
     [
@@ -60,24 +54,41 @@ async function mergeMasterIntoDev (context) {
   )
 
   // fetch everything
+  logger.log('fetching branches')
   await execa('git', ['fetch'], execaOpts)
 
-  // checkout master branch
-  // this is done because otherwise the commit seems to be the one just before
-  // the snapshot release
-  await execa('git', ['checkout', branch], execaOpts)
+  // checkout master and pull latest
+  logger.log('checking out release branch')
+  await execa('git', ['checkout', options.branch], execaOpts)
 
-  // pull changes into master
+  logger.log('pulling')
   await execa('git', ['pull'], execaOpts)
+}
+
+/**
+ * Merges the master branch into the dev branch.  The devBranch must be specified
+ * in the options for this to work.
+ */
+async function mergeMasterIntoDev (context) {
+  const {env, cwd, logger, options} = context
+  const execaOpts = {env, cwd}
+  const {branch, devBranch, repositoryUrl} = options
+
+  logger.log('Merging master branch into dev branch')
 
   // checkout dev branch
+  logger.log('checking out dev branch')
   await execa('git', ['checkout', devBranch], execaOpts)
 
   // merge
+  logger.log('merging release branch into dev branch')
   await execa('git', ['merge', branch], execaOpts)
 
   // push
+  logger.log('pushing dev branch')
   await push(repositoryUrl, devBranch, execaOpts)
+
+  logger.log('merge and push successful!')
 }
 
 /**
@@ -107,9 +118,12 @@ async function saveChangesToPomXml (context, versionStr) {
 
   logger.log('pushing changes')
   await push(repositoryUrl, branch, execaOpts)
+
+  logger.log('changes pushed')
 }
 
 module.exports = {
+  configureGit,
   mergeMasterIntoDev,
   saveChangesToPomXml
 }
diff --git a/lib/publish.js b/lib/publish.js
index 1a6a956..6ed2280 100644
--- a/lib/publish.js
+++ b/lib/publish.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-const {mergeMasterIntoDev, saveChangesToPomXml} = require('./git')
+const {configureGit, mergeMasterIntoDev, saveChangesToPomXml} = require('./git')
 const {updateVersionInPomXml, deploy} = require('./maven')
 
 /**
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ module.exports = async function publish (pluginConfig, context) {
 
   // special logic to do some extra Conveyal-specific tasks
   if (options.useConveyalWorkflow) {
+    // do some extra configuration to allow pushing more than 1 commit
+    await configureGit(context)
+
     // bump to snapshot version
     const nextSnapshotVersion = nextRelease.version.split('.').map(s => parseInt(s, 10))
     nextSnapshotVersion[2] += 1