diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2382cabeb..a06808dfb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -52,3 +52,4 @@ exp/
 _extras/
 *.sublime-*
 site/
+jrnl/__version__.py
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 17251ba94..afe427117 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@ jobs:
       before_deploy:
         - poetry config http-basic.pypi "$PYPI_USER" "$PYPI_PASS"
         - poetry version "$TRAVIS_TAG"
+        - echo __version__ = \"$TRAVIS_TAG\" > jrnl/__version__.py
         - poetry build
       deploy:
         - provider: script
@@ -124,4 +125,3 @@ jobs:
         - git add pyproject.toml
         - git commit -m "Incrementing version to ${TRAVIS_TAG}"
         - git push https://${GITHUB_TOKEN}@github.com/jrnl-org/jrnl.git master
-
diff --git a/jrnl/__init__.py b/jrnl/__init__.py
index 1905b1959..9c4b051e8 100644
--- a/jrnl/__init__.py
+++ b/jrnl/__init__.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
-import pkg_resources
-
-dist = pkg_resources.get_distribution('jrnl')
-__title__ = dist.project_name
-__version__ = dist.version
-
+import os
+try:
+    from .__version__ import __version__
+except ImportError:
+    __version__ = "source"
+__title__ = "jrnl"
diff --git a/jrnl/plugins/template.py b/jrnl/plugins/template.py
index 7f72e2f80..a74784e2f 100644
--- a/jrnl/plugins/template.py
+++ b/jrnl/plugins/template.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import re
-import asteval
 import yaml
 
 VAR_RE = r"[_a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_]*"
@@ -39,6 +38,7 @@ def render_block(self, block, **vars):
         return self._expand(self.blocks[block], **vars)
 
     def _eval_context(self, vars):
+        import asteval
         e = asteval.Interpreter(use_numpy=False, writer=None)
         e.symtable.update(vars)
         e.symtable['__last_iteration'] = vars.get("__last_iteration", False)