You need to make sure there is no extra-whitespace between the backslash after "element create sandwich grid" and the newline.
Looks like the bboard (postgres driver actually) ate the backslash in your post above (though it was in the email alert). But you've got the right idea (and it's how I do it--I find the multiple line layout to be much more readable than cramming everything on one line)--just make sure there isn't a trailing space lurking...
