diff --git a/django_q/tasks.py b/django_q/tasks.py
index f4e0036..31690c8 100644
--- a/django_q/tasks.py
+++ b/django_q/tasks.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ def async(func, *args, **kwargs):
     """Queue a task for the cluster."""
     keywords = kwargs.copy()
     opt_keys = ('hook', 'group', 'save', 'sync', 'cached', 'iter_count', 'iter_cached', 'chain', 'broker')
-    q_options = keywords.pop('q_options', None)
+    q_options = keywords.pop('q_options', {})
     # get an id
     tag = uuid()
     # build the task package