trash to treasure lit was created to foster a community of writers who may not believe in their abilities, but deserve to. for writers to learn from their words and others, and to open the conversation around why we reject our work before it’s given a chance.

trash to treasure lit was created to foster a community of writers who may not believe in their abilities but deserve to. for writers to learn from their words and others, and to open the conversation around why we reject our work before it’s given a chance. we encourage writers to have faith in their words and the stories they have to tell while uplifting their fellow writer

the publishing industry can be brutal, and it can so effortlessly destroy your will to continue writing. the aim of this publication is to encourage writers to keep pushing through those boundaries and roadblocks, to learn that we can be our biggest critics and that we too often discard our work so that others don’t get the chance to. trash to treasure lit is a safe space for all writers - published or not

every writer has a piece of ‘trash’ that we can treasure

Samantha Lee Curran

trash to treasure lit

with your submission, please include a few sentences on why you trashed each piece submitted, or why you didn’t give it a chance. we love to hear the thought process behind our writers and their piece, which will help to build a community of encouragement and a safe space for you to share your words. any submissions without this will not be published.

Active on Social Media

No submission/reading fee

Promotes writers' work on Instagram & Twitter after publication

Encourages writers to submit the pieces they have self-rejected before given a chance

General call

Stephanie holds both a Bachelor of Music degree in Instrumental Music Education and an M.A. in English: Literary Study from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga.  During the pursuit of her M.A., her research interests were varied, ranging from tracing the ideas presented in the poetry of Walt Whitman through the music of Bruce Springsteen to Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and cocaine addiction.  Stephanie presented a shortened, conference essay, “Self-Administered, Hypodermically, Subcutaneously, or Intravenously: Exploring the Cocaine Addiction of Sherlock Holmes,” at the Tennessee Philological Association Conference in 2010.  She is a 2018 graduate of Queens University of Charlotte and earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing.  Previous works have been published in The Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, The Smart Set, and other journals.

Professional Bio

Stephanie L. Haun holds an MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Creative Nonfiction from Queens University of Charlotte. Previous works have been published in The Smart Set, Drunk Monkeys, Beyond Words, The Intima, The Centifictionist, and others. She can be found on Twitter (@shaunwriter) and Instagram/Facebook (@stephaniehaunwriter).

Fun Professional Bio

The academy recognises me & my wet claws, ...I would be the youngest girl there, 

        I'd seep into a chair's arms like an orphaned crow, 

Cancer mercury 

“Take me back to the birch bark grove

Where the trees stretch skyward, slender

And the ground is soft in spring..."

Wildflowers

"Boy, you always did have those eyes, didn’t you?

Prairie highway for a gaze, boy

Due South to Mexico, West to the coast, boy

Anywhere but here in a third-hand pickup..."

Runaway

Bone Dry

bargaining

Untitled 

We Talk About Taxes Now

Flames

"..the end of summer mere days away. Maverick only needed to survive for three more days. It was funny, he thought between the burning in his thighs, the water dripping down an already bruising neck, he’d never thought he was just trying to survive."

Migration

Rhymes 

my skirt is shorter than my bangs

freshly trimmed, scissors slipped

cut off more than i could chew

or wash down the sink

in father’s bathroom – whirlpool 

Freshly Trimmed & Countdown

This was written a few months after being all depressed and stuff and finding that we find love again. That it’s a trick. I can’t explain it but it just has this angsty thing to it that I don’t love. Granted they all have a bit of angst to them.

The Trick of Falling In Love

This was written back in 2018 while I was in a long distance relationship that just felt long and tiring but I wanted to keep going. I couldn’t bare let them go but I couldn’t be happy because of the hurdles and this was a poem that came out of that.

iMissWe

“For most of its young life, the euthanasia rollercoaster has slept. Today, it will wake up for just a few minutes to usher the living up and down its steel hills. The death machine will never know the thrills of the carnival that once lived here"

The Death Machine

I'm Afraid To Do My Laundry

The Torment of Life

I wish all arguments
Could be settled 
In the form of a snowball fight.
Land a good blow and it stings
Then shatters
And I am laughing still...

Snowball

 Cold winter burns
Across this landfill heart
Lets nothing bloom
As you hesitantly navigate 
This archipelago of sin
Face to the rain
A drought of tears 

February Snows

It’s strange how you can stare the inevitable in the eye

And feel both so much and nothing at all

Grief

Family Tree

"Arlene Lang (13) ran away from home again. Her mother is concerned because this time she disappeared for almost the entire afternoon. Her father however believes this is simply a phase that she’ll grow out of once she begins drinking and smoking. "

trash to treasure lit

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