3xA MA: Jessica Spotswood

I feel like authors deserve so much from the readers. I believe that authors are people who really connect with us. It was actually an author who I "sorta" owe my life to. Authors and their words make us feel and they can help us.
In this event, I want to get to know the authors. I’d like to get interviews or blog posts about THEM in connection to their book. Who is the mind behind each author?

For each post, I leave links to connect with the author. Please take the time to use one of those links and leave a message for each author, if you can. It can be towards the book or it can be something as easy as “I love the post you wrote on Out of Time! <33”

Jessica Spotswood is on my blog and I'm like

Cooking - With Jessica Spotswood

When I got my book deal for the Cahill Witch Chronicles back in 2011, I was able to quit my day job - I'd been working for nine years at the Catholic University of America Press - and write full-time. It's been amazing in lots of ways. But it's also a challenge sometimes. When the thing that has always been your hobby becomes your job - what do you do for fun? I realized last fall that my life totally revolved around writing, reading, promo, and the publishing business in a way that was not super healthy. I needed to make time for more hobbies!

I used to cook a lot, but last year - with schedules that revolved around writing deadlines and my husband The Playwright's rehearsals - we relied too much on takeout and microwave foods. Which are expensive, not super healthy, and not super fun! I didn't want to make a vague 2014 resolution to "cook more" or "eat healthier," because those are too hard to quantify. So I set a more specific goal - make a new soup recipe for every week of the year.

To that end, Santa (ok, my mom) gave me this book for Christmas.


So far, I've made 7 soups (5 in January and 2 in February) for my Soup Project. The rules I set for myself are: I have to choose a soup from that month's list of recipes, I Instagram a picture, and my husband and I both rate the soup Some have been delicious, some have been failures, some have fallen somewhere in-between - but it's been super fun so far!

Last summer I became kind of obsessed with gazpacho. Maybe unsurprisingly, this has been my favorite recipe so far: Old-Fashioned Tomato & Rice soup. It was a 4.5/5 for me and a 4/5 for The Playwright. I like that it's a little hearty and not too creamy. I will absolutely make it again!

Our other favorite was this Pasta & White Bean soup, which is a sort of Italian pasta e fagioli. It's pretty easy - it contains onions, garlic, diced tomatoes, white beans, macaroni, veggie broth, and oregano. I made it again on my writing retreat last week and it was a hit. The Playwright and I both gave it a 4.5/5.

The biggest challenge has been modifying some recipes to make them vegetarian, because the Playwright and I are pescetarians (i.e. we eat fish but no meat). Sometimes it's impossible because meat is clearly a huge, key ingredient. I don't even try those soups. Sometimes it works without any problem (subbing veggie broth for chicken or beef broth), yay! And sometimes I think it will work but the flavor turns out to be dependent on the meat. That's what happened, I think, with this White Bean & Kale soup. It was supposed to include sausage, but I subbed in veggie sausage, and the soup turned out crazy bland. It didn't help that the base was water instead of broth - yuck! I tried adding tons of hot sauce, but it was basically inedible. Boo!


Overall, though, it's been really fun. Out of the 7 recipes, that's the only one I would NOT try to at least fiddle with again. Some of the soups I'm looking forward to trying in March are: Chickpea & Roasted Tomato soup with Fried Rosemary, Lemony Asparagus & Rice Soup with Parmesan, Five-Spice Broth with Salmon & Onion Dumplings, and Creamy Pea Soup with Citrus Oil & Chives! If you want to see how they turn out, you can follow me on Instagram! I also post lots of pictures of books, my adorable cat Monkey, and board games.

FOOD. I love watching the Food Network because I know that I'll never eat some of the stuff on there. But it is fun to look at! Especially Ice Cold Cash where I yell at the TV!

Enter the giveaway below! Thanks for checking out my blog and remember:  
Be kind to one another. - Ellen

Jessica's Facebook | Goodreads | Goodreads for her Book | Twitter | Website |

I grew up in a tiny one-stoplight town in Pennsylvania, where I could be found swimming, playing clarinet, memorizing lines for the school play, or—most often—with my nose in a book. I've been writing since I was little but studied theatre in college and grad school. Now I live in Washington, DC with my brilliant playwright husband and a cuddly cat named Monkey.

a Rafflecopter giveaway