Hey everyone!

Hillary Carlip here, one of the four original Memoirists Collective peeps!  Remember us?!

I know… it's been a looooong time since you've heard from any of us, or since we've had the chance to do another kick-ass Memoir contest for ya'all!  BUT HAVE I GOT A CONTEST FOR YOU TODAY!!!

First, let me tell you why the four of us have all been so busy:

Josh Kilmer-Purcell has a FANTASTIC new book out called Candy Everybody Wants!  GO GET IT!  You won't be sorry!

Danielle Trussoni, author of the acclaimed memoir Falling Through the Earth is writing a novel now!

Maria Dahvana Headley just had a play produced, sold the TV Rights to her hit memoir The Year of Yes, and is working on a new big monster Shakespeare project, www.upstartcrowproject.com.

Oh, and me, you ask?  Well I have a BRAND new book out called A la Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers.

For years, I've been collecting strangers' shopping lists.  I find them in grocery carts, at the checkout counter -- alright, I've even been known to dumpster dive for them (as long as they're clean and dry!)  I'm totally fascinated by these snapshot scraps of human nature.  I believe you can tell so much about a person by their shopping list, that shopping lists are the new memoir!

In my book A la Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers, I have taken real, found shopping lists and transformed myself into the imagined authors by being photographed as 26 different characters who vary in age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and facial hairstyles, and writing stories about each.

Wanna know more?  Well, if you go to my profile, you can not only read all about it and see a short video trailer, you can also participate in a BIG, PHAT SUPERMARKET SLEUTH CONTEST, with BIG, PHAT prizes!  Just go to my current BLOG.

And here are a couple o' pics to intice you and give you a peek into A la Cart:

This is me:

And here's me as Pammy (along with the found list she's imagined from):

And me as Lloyd:

Look forward to seeing you over at my page and blog, and thanks for checking out A la Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers!

Happy shopping!

XO Hillary

P.S.  TODAY, yeah that's right, TODAY, I am featured on NPR's Day to Day in the first of a kick-ass TWO-PART piece!  You can listen to it online (and see an A la Cart slide show they put together by clicking here.)