diff --git a/update.sh b/update.sh
index 1aec68b..6cf5724 100755
--- a/update.sh
+++ b/update.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # add things to git
 COMMIT_MSG="Update NixOS config."
 echo "commit message?"
-read $COMMIT_MSG
+read COMMIT_MSG
 
 echo "this is what they wrote: $COMMIT_MSG"