Maya Morris

The choir and young adult group at Saint Thomas More has developed me as both a person and a person of faith. I sing in our wonderful choir every Sunday, and volunteer in the young adult group on Wednesdays. Volunteering requires preparing meals before events, planning, socializing, and promoting the group. I learned how to communicate effectively with members of the church, to engage others in events, and how to promote the group outside of church. Volunteering has helped me be confident in my communication skills.

As an editor for Leonine, I worked closely with the owners, Laura and Michael Rayes, and communicated with authors. I was tasked with editing novels through Word Document, and tracking changes. Although the timeline was very open, I consistently exceeded expectations and delivered edits at an accelerated rate. Working as an editor showed me how to meet deadlines, organize my time, provide excellent feedback, and communicate effectively with every member of the team.

As an intern for the Pen Prison Project, I was required to edit and give feedback to inmates in New Mexico. The writers would ask specific feedback on their creative writing projects like poetry, rap, and their stories. I would respond to one to two inmates per week in the given timeframe. I was surprised to see how passionate these inmates were towards their writing pieces and how they yearned to improve. This internship showed me how to be compassionate towards others who use writing to vent their frustrations and escape harsh realities. This fulfilling and educational experience developed me as both a writer and an editor.

At fourteen-years-old, I self-published my very first science fiction novel. I did this on my own, through Amazon, and learned pricing, how to create digital art, and how to promote myself. Since 2018, I have published three novels under my penname "Victoria Cage". I promote my novels via Instagram, and create digital art. I have drawn the covers for each one, format the contents, and edit myself. My novels include "The Uprising," "Shattered," and "Drahgmir." The first two are science fiction, and the last is high fantasy. Through my dedication to creative writing, I have learned to be flexible for many genres, which demonstrates my ability as an artist and an author.