By the Time Summer Comes – A Series of Vignettes

I have reached a point in my life where I’m constantly being asked what I want to do in the future, and it is no longer the type of question that adults laugh about and remark, “Oh, what a cute kid you have!” no matter the preposterous nature of the response. Whenever I think of my future, writing is always there. Writing will probably always be a part of me, but whether or not I choose to pursue it professionally is the question. I figured that Personal Project would be a great opportunity to test it out, and so it did not take me as long as I thought to finalize on my set learning goal to further develop my writing skills.

Writing is a skill popularly connected to careers like journalism, being an author, or a general written content creator among other things. These are all things that I could easily pursue with a constant development of writing skills both creative and technical. However, I also noticed that writing is an important skill to have in general, and not just in the aforementioned fields. By developing my writing skills, I would be able to prepare myself, in a sense, for the “real world”, whatever career I end up pursuing. That way, I would be able to benefit from developing a personal interest not just as a hobby, but also as an essential life skill.

Product Goal

I’ve always wanted to write a book, and my goal of developing my writing skills is surely connected to that. Now the only question was what exactly would I write about? I thought about simple things I wanted to share with others such as life during the pandemic, or about some of the many bizarre dreams I have. However, it did not take me long again to decide on the topic of my grandmother, who passed in the middle of July due to cancer, right before school started.

My grandmother was a big part of my life both here and during the time I grew up in Manila. When she died, her close family members and friends were asked to write eulogies. Her grandkids included. I found that there was so much I wanted to say. I, of course, ended up having to cut it all short to fit in the timeframe, but I still had the messily outlined document on my laptop.

I had always thought that it was because of her strong sense of family that I was able to stay connected with my extended family all over the world, so I wanted to share parts of that, too. I also recalled the book The House on Mango Street by Sarah Cisneros, a book that we read in MYP Year 4. I really enjoyed the book and the style that Cisneros used to tell her story, so for my final PP product, I decided I wanted to create a collection of vignettes based on the memories I have of my grandmother and our family. I thought that this was going to be a good opportunity for me to do so.

Reflection

My finished product is a collection of 25 vignettes, centered on memories I have of my Lola and part of my childhood in the Philippines. I wanted to still put some distance between my family and the fictionalized version of it, so all the characters are fictional, and the sequence of events does not completely match up with reality. This gave me more room to write freely as well, not needing to be tied down to concrete events I may or may not remember accurately. Despite this, the project helped me express myself in a way that I could not have done before. This time, because I had no choice but to commit to it, I was forced to go beyond my own limits and dig deep into myself in order to produce the vignettes. I learned a lot about myself throughout this project, through testing my own creative limits and writing abilities. I also realized things about my work ethic, my time-management, and what methods and processes I worked best with. I learned that I needed to write down my problems and anxious thoughts before they ended up draining all my motivation out altogether, which in turn developed my self-management skills. It’s funny looking back, because in order to stop overthinking about my project (which is about writing), all I needed to do was write. I shared the finished story with my extended family, and I can say that it has impacted them, too. They have all sent me messages of support and that they can feel the characters and scenarios vividly. This gave me a feeling of—this is something that I want to keep doing. In the future, aside from expanding vocabulary and developing a unique style, I’d like to hone skills of using narrative techniques and experimenting with more storytelling elements. I’d also like to be able to paint a vivid image whilst being succinct. Even if I do not end up choosing this path professionally, I am now certain that it is something I constantly want to improve and develop.

Product Evaluation

I’m actually very satisfied and proud of what I’ve accomplished. I have clearly developed my communication skills, not only in writing but also orally through my research and interviews. Of course, there are things that I would have changed about my product, but looking at it in hindsight, I think I did a pretty good job. The product was created in a matter of four short months, and within that time I more than doubled my initial aim of writing only 12 vignettes. As with things I am satisfied with, there are always things to improve. I know I have a ways to go in developing my writing skills to reach an ideal standard I have for myself. Things like vocabulary, figurative language, and even literary devices are things that I know I need to work on. It starts with observing the works of others, and finding a way to emulate that as my own. Through this project, I was able to demonstrate my skills in writing more extensively than I have done before, and I’m grateful that I was able to get through it and call it a memorable and learning experience.