Another Writer Hits Silver Pen: Diana Pinguicha

The next Word Warrior killing her goals is Diana Pinguicha! She’s from Lisbon, Portugal, and has also been awesome enough to donate a number of prizes (synopsis critiques! sensitivity read! character portrait!). So not only has she written more than 15,000 words, but she’s also just making it rain all over this campaign. THANK YOU!

You can congratulate Diana on twitter, Instagram, DeviantArt, her website, NaNo, or leave a comment on her Malala fundraising page. Read on to find out more about Diana and her project.

And job VERY well done, Diana!

What is your favorite book and/or author, and what draws you to them?

My favorite book in the whole world is 1984. It changed my life after I read, not just because of the message, but because the ending broke me. Some parts of it resonated so much with me, specifically the part where Winston debates that “Sanity is not statistical”–I even got two tattoos based on it.

My favorite author of all time, however, is Juliet Marillier. I’ve been in love with her words ever since I read the first book on the Sevenwaters series, and every story she crafts is seriously magical. I cry every time I read Son of Shadows. I cried when the Sevenwaters series ended with the second trilogy. I CRIED so hard in Bridei Chronicles, especially in the final book. And her YA series… Both Wildwood Dancing and Shadowfell are so beautiful and great and I wish more people would read Juliet’s books because she deserves the whole world to. She is just phenomenal and truly magic.

Is this your first book? If not, what was the first book you ever finished writing? Tell us a little about it.

This is my… sixth book? The first book I ever finished writing was Sightless (on a NaNo!), and it was about someone who loses their sight on purpose, and then uses psychic powers to see through other people’s eyes to solve mysteries. We ended up making a tiny game out of it in college, where the main mechanic was to use different people’s perspectives to get different insights on things. The way your librarian looks at books is different from the way you look at books, the way your best friend looks at beer is different from yours… things like that. It was a mess, and I ended up shelving it, but I might get back to it someday and weave Portuguese folklore into it.

What’s the working title of your NaNoWriMo17 project?

A Miracle of Roses! It was initially Bread from Roses, but I changed it because this way it shortens to AMOR, which is love in Portuguese and my soft heart just loves that.

Give us an elevator pitch of your project.

In a feminist retelling of the Portuguese legend of the Miracle of Roses, Queen Yzabel will do anything to reverse her curse’s flow, and feed the population by turning roses into bread.

Share your favorite line/short paragraph from your book so far.

“The irony, dear one. The irony is funny. It’s hilarious.” She wipes tears from the corner of her eyes. “That the one person who’s heard me in over a hundred years is the Queen of the people who put me here.”

How did you hear about the Mighty Pens?

Through Susan’s twitter!

What inspired you to join the Mighty Pens?

In my latest NaNo years, I’ve struggled with commitment a lot, and with self-editing. I felt like I needed extra motivation to keep going, and contributing to this has been a ton of help. I get to write, AND to give money to a great cause!

Keep it up, Diana! You’re definitely inspiring us!