diff --git a/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/CommitState.java b/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/CommitState.java
index 502a01bd..dfc87a57 100644
--- a/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/CommitState.java
+++ b/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/CommitState.java
@@ -106,8 +106,9 @@ public boolean isCommitTimedOut() {
       return false;
     }
 
-    if (System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime > config.commitTimeoutMs()) {
-      LOG.info("Commit timeout reached");
+    long currentTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+    if (currentTime - startTime > config.commitTimeoutMs()) {
+      LOG.info("Commit timeout reached. Now: {}, start: {}, timeout: {}", currentTime, startTime, config.commitTimeoutMs());
       return true;
     }
     return false;
@@ -125,14 +126,14 @@ public boolean isCommitReady(int expectedPartitionCount) {
             .sum();
 
     if (receivedPartitionCount >= expectedPartitionCount) {
-      LOG.debug(
+      LOG.info(
           "Commit {} ready, received responses for all {} partitions",
           currentCommitId,
           receivedPartitionCount);
       return true;
     }
 
-    LOG.debug(
+    LOG.info(
         "Commit {} not ready, received responses for {} of {} partitions, waiting for more",
         currentCommitId,
         receivedPartitionCount,
diff --git a/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/Coordinator.java b/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/Coordinator.java
index 0fcc0bb7..b7204c85 100644
--- a/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/Coordinator.java
+++ b/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/Coordinator.java
@@ -97,10 +97,12 @@ public void process() {
     if (commitState.isCommitIntervalReached()) {
       // send out begin commit
       commitState.startNewCommit();
+      LOG.info("Started new commit with commit-id={}", commitState.currentCommitId().toString());
       Event event =
           new Event(config.controlGroupId(), new StartCommit(commitState.currentCommitId()));
       send(event);
-      LOG.debug("Started new commit with commit-id={}", commitState.currentCommitId().toString());
+      LOG.info("Sent workers commit trigger with commit-id={}", commitState.currentCommitId().toString());
+
     }
 
     consumeAvailable(POLL_DURATION, this::receive);
@@ -127,6 +129,7 @@ private boolean receive(Envelope envelope) {
 
   private void commit(boolean partialCommit) {
     try {
+      LOG.info("Processing commit after responses for {}, isPartialCommit {}",commitState.currentCommitId(), partialCommit);
       doCommit(partialCommit);
     } catch (Exception e) {
       LOG.warn("Commit failed, will try again next cycle", e);
diff --git a/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/Worker.java b/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/Worker.java
index 7fb9d899..dcf57abb 100644
--- a/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/Worker.java
+++ b/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/channel/Worker.java
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ private void routeRecordStatically(SinkRecord record) {
 
   private void routeRecordDynamically(SinkRecord record) {
     String routeField = config.tablesRouteField();
-    Preconditions.checkNotNull(routeField, "Route field cannot be null with dynamic routing");
+    Preconditions.checkNotNull(routeField, String.format("Route field cannot be null with dynamic routing at topic: %s, partition: %d, offset: %d", record.topic(), record.kafkaPartition(), record.kafkaOffset()));
 
     String routeValue = extractRouteValue(record.value(), routeField);
     if (routeValue != null) {
diff --git a/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/data/IcebergWriterFactory.java b/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/data/IcebergWriterFactory.java
index 2bbf0788..84f54843 100644
--- a/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/data/IcebergWriterFactory.java
+++ b/kafka-connect/src/main/java/io/tabular/iceberg/connect/data/IcebergWriterFactory.java
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ public IcebergWriterFactory(Catalog catalog, IcebergSinkConfig config) {
   }
 
   public RecordWriter createWriter(
-      String tableName, SinkRecord sample, boolean ignoreMissingTable) {
+          String tableName, SinkRecord sample, boolean ignoreMissingTable) {
     TableIdentifier identifier = TableIdentifier.parse(tableName);
     Table table;
     try {
@@ -67,47 +67,52 @@ public RecordWriter createWriter(
 
   @VisibleForTesting
   Table autoCreateTable(String tableName, SinkRecord sample) {
-    StructType structType;
-    if (sample.valueSchema() == null) {
-      structType =
-          SchemaUtils.inferIcebergType(sample.value(), config)
-              .orElseThrow(() -> new DataException("Unable to create table from empty object"))
-              .asStructType();
-    } else {
-      structType = SchemaUtils.toIcebergType(sample.valueSchema(), config).asStructType();
-    }
+    try {
+      StructType structType;
+      if (sample.valueSchema() == null) {
+        structType =
+                SchemaUtils.inferIcebergType(sample.value(), config)
+                        .orElseThrow(() -> new DataException("Unable to create table from empty object"))
+                        .asStructType();
+      } else {
+        structType = SchemaUtils.toIcebergType(sample.valueSchema(), config).asStructType();
+      }
 
-    org.apache.iceberg.Schema schema = new org.apache.iceberg.Schema(structType.fields());
-    TableIdentifier identifier = TableIdentifier.parse(tableName);
+      org.apache.iceberg.Schema schema = new org.apache.iceberg.Schema(structType.fields());
+      TableIdentifier identifier = TableIdentifier.parse(tableName);
 
-    List<String> partitionBy = config.tableConfig(tableName).partitionBy();
-    PartitionSpec spec;
-    try {
-      spec = SchemaUtils.createPartitionSpec(schema, partitionBy);
+      List<String> partitionBy = config.tableConfig(tableName).partitionBy();
+      PartitionSpec spec;
+      try {
+        spec = SchemaUtils.createPartitionSpec(schema, partitionBy);
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        LOG.error(
+                "Unable to create partition spec {}, table {} will be unpartitioned",
+                partitionBy,
+                identifier,
+                e);
+        spec = PartitionSpec.unpartitioned();
+      }
+
+      PartitionSpec partitionSpec = spec;
+      AtomicReference<Table> result = new AtomicReference<>();
+      Tasks.range(1)
+              .retry(IcebergSinkConfig.CREATE_TABLE_RETRIES)
+              .run(
+                      notUsed -> {
+                        try {
+                          result.set(catalog.loadTable(identifier));
+                        } catch (NoSuchTableException e) {
+                          result.set(
+                                  catalog.createTable(
+                                          identifier, schema, partitionSpec, config.autoCreateProps()));
+                          LOG.info("Created new table {} from record at topic: {}, partition: {}, offset: {}", identifier, sample.topic(), sample.kafkaPartition(), sample.kafkaOffset());
+                        }
+                      });
+      return result.get();
     } catch (Exception e) {
-      LOG.error(
-          "Unable to create partition spec {}, table {} will be unpartitioned",
-          partitionBy,
-          identifier,
-          e);
-      spec = PartitionSpec.unpartitioned();
+      LOG.error("Error creating new table {} from record at topic: {}, partition: {}, offset: {}", tableName, sample.topic(), sample.kafkaPartition(), sample.kafkaOffset());
+      throw e;
     }
-
-    PartitionSpec partitionSpec = spec;
-    AtomicReference<Table> result = new AtomicReference<>();
-    Tasks.range(1)
-        .retry(IcebergSinkConfig.CREATE_TABLE_RETRIES)
-        .run(
-            notUsed -> {
-              try {
-                result.set(catalog.loadTable(identifier));
-              } catch (NoSuchTableException e) {
-                result.set(
-                    catalog.createTable(
-                        identifier, schema, partitionSpec, config.autoCreateProps()));
-                LOG.info("Created new table {} from record at topic: {}, partition: {}, offset: {}", identifier, sample.topic(), sample.kafkaPartition(), sample.kafkaOffset());
-              }
-            });
-    return result.get();
   }
 }