The Wastepaper Basket by Meg Hall
The wastepaper basket is beginning to fill up. A small mountain of crumpled up sheets of paper stare at me as I tear yet another page from my notebook. Lined, blank A4s, printer paper, even receipts. It all serves as a reminder that I am yet another small mistake away from overflow.
“I think I initially was worried that this piece of writing wouldn't find a good home to be published, I was a bit nervous about hitting send so it was trashed for a little while, and then I thought about it for a while and felt like I had nothing to lose with submitting it, so I did.”
Meg Hall (she/her) is the author of several short stories, notably Reflections (2022) that was published by The Girl You Need for Self-Esteem in February. She is currently studying English and Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, and lives in Crowthorne, Berkshire. You can find her on twitter: @meg_hall_XXVI and Instagram: @meg_hall_xxvi