diff --git a/src/Text/Hakyll/Page.hs b/src/Text/Hakyll/Page.hs
index 682f1b9..2eddf20 100644
--- a/src/Text/Hakyll/Page.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Hakyll/Page.hs
@@ -92,9 +92,7 @@ cachePage page@(Page mapping) = do
     hPutStr handle $ getBody page
     hClose handle
   where
-    writePair h (k, v) = do hPutStr h k
-                            hPutStr h ": "
-                            hPutStr h v
+    writePair h (k, v) = do hPutStr h $ k ++ ": " ++ v
                             hPutStrLn h ""
 
 -- | Read a page from a file. Metadata is supported, and if the filename
@@ -109,12 +107,13 @@ readPage pagePath = do
     -- Read file.
     handle <- openFile path ReadMode
     line <- hGetLine handle
-    (context, body) <-
+    (metaData, body) <-
         if isDelimiter line
             then do md <- readMetaData handle
-                    c <- hGetContents handle
-                    return (md, c)
-            else hGetContents handle >>= \b -> return ([], line ++ b)
+                    b <- hGetContents handle
+                    return (md, b)
+            else do b <- hGetContents handle
+                    return ([], line ++ b)
 
     -- Render file
     let rendered = (renderFunction $ takeExtension path) body
diff --git a/src/Text/Hakyll/Render.hs b/src/Text/Hakyll/Render.hs
index caf0221..58a8d4d 100644
--- a/src/Text/Hakyll/Render.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Hakyll/Render.hs
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ import Text.Hakyll.Renderable
 import Text.Hakyll.File
 import Text.Hakyll.CompressCSS
 
+import Control.Parallel.Strategies (rnf, ($|))
+
 -- | Execute an IO action only when the cache is invalid.
 depends :: FilePath -- ^ File to be rendered or created.
         -> [FilePath] -- ^ Files the render depends on.
@@ -75,12 +77,13 @@ renderWith :: Renderable a
 renderWith manipulation templatePath renderable = do
     handle <- openFile templatePath ReadMode
     templateString <- hGetContents handle
-    seq templateString $ hClose handle
     context <- liftM manipulation $ toContext renderable
     -- Ignore $root when substituting here. We will only replace that in the
     -- final render (just before writing).
     let contextIgnoringRoot = M.insert "root" "$root" context
         body = regularSubstitute templateString contextIgnoringRoot
+    -- Force the body to be rendered before closing the handle.
+    seq (($|) id rnf body) $ hClose handle
     return $ fromContext (M.insert "body" body context)
 
 -- | Render each renderable with the given template, then concatenate the