diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index ec6cdb2..1ec9f11 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -132,6 +132,12 @@
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.sling</groupId>
+            <artifactId>org.apache.sling.testing.logging-mock</artifactId>
+            <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
             <groupId>javax.jcr</groupId>
             <artifactId>jcr</artifactId>
             <version>2.0</version>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/nosql/generic/resource/impl/NoSqlResourceProvider.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/nosql/generic/resource/impl/NoSqlResourceProvider.java
index a1bc13f..1df45cb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/nosql/generic/resource/impl/NoSqlResourceProvider.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/nosql/generic/resource/impl/NoSqlResourceProvider.java
@@ -148,7 +148,8 @@
         }
         
         // create new resource in changeset
-        NoSqlData data = new NoSqlData(path, NoSqlValueMap.convertForWriteAll(new HashMap<String, Object>(properties)));
+        Map<String, Object> writableMap = properties != null ? new HashMap<String, Object>(properties) : new HashMap<String, Object>();
+        NoSqlData data = new NoSqlData(path, NoSqlValueMap.convertForWriteAll(writableMap));
         changedResources.put(path, data);
         return new NoSqlResource(data, resolver, this);
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/sling/nosql/generic/resource/impl/AbstractNoSqlResourceProviderTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/sling/nosql/generic/resource/impl/AbstractNoSqlResourceProviderTest.java
index eda8f8c..fde5152 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/sling/nosql/generic/resource/impl/AbstractNoSqlResourceProviderTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/sling/nosql/generic/resource/impl/AbstractNoSqlResourceProviderTest.java
@@ -208,4 +208,10 @@
         assertEquals(JcrConstants.NT_UNSTRUCTURED, resource.getResourceType());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testCreateWithNullMap() throws IOException {
+        Resource resource1 = context.resourceResolver().getResource(testRoot().getPath() + "/node1");
+        context.resourceResolver().create(resource1, "nullMap", null);
+    }
+
 }