It all started in 1998…
…when author Patty McGuigan started writing a novel about time travel set in Silicon Valley. In this first seed of the story, historical figures collided with modern tech companies, using their unique ways of looking at things to solve tech problems. At the time, she wrote eleven stories — about 100 pages.
Then, Patty’s career in commercial real estate took off. She filed her novel away and got back to her ‘real world’.
Fast forward to 2020—Patty’s husband had died, the pandemic had changed our world, and Patty’s mind wandered to the book she had started twenty years ago. She started the treasure hunt and found it. She sought out an editor, who asked, “Who is your audience?” Good question. Patty always describes herself as a twelve year old at heart. She had three grandchildren around that age, so twelve year olds are exactly who she would write it for! The characters would be her two grandsons, Jack and Nick; her granddaughter, Poppy; and the ever-inspiring Leonardo da Vinci, aka Nardi.
But Patty needed a partner in crime. She called her grandchildren’s other grandmother, Marian Lye, an author who had written a wonderful account of her father’s experience in World War II.
“Marian, how would you like to write book with me, with our grandchildren as heroes?”
It did not take a minute. “Sounds wonderful. I’d very much like that.”
Little did Patty and Marian know that it would lead them to build a diverse team all over the world. They connected with an editor/designer in New York, a producer/editor in Hawaii, and a fabulous young artist in New Hampshire. And so they began, a team of women of different talents, all different pages, all over the world. Wow!