Hello everyone, my name is Jace Schwartz. I live in Vancouver, Washington with my wife Mikaila and our three small children. I am a budding author, and Mikaila is a budding illustrator. Here’s how it happened: 

Mikaila and I married in 2015, but we’ve known each other since high school. You might say we were high-school-sweethearts, but she was a year older, way out of my league, and I never really worked up the courage to actually ask her to be my girlfriend. I did have one thing going for me, though: I was a scrawny drama kid with zero flirtatious prowess and a receding hairline. In other words, a total catch. She couldn’t resist. 

Since we've known each other, Mikaila and I have been cultivating a dream of co-creating together. My head is filled with stories, and her paintbrush is always on the move. Thus, a big-picture goal began to form in our imaginations very early on: an official creative partnership.  

STUDIO J&M is the incarnation of this dream. In many ways, Mik and I started STUDIO J&M years ago without realizing it. Partnering up to bring words and images together has been something we've been doing for years. But now we're ready for more. 

Ten years ago, I had an idea for a fantasy adventure novel for kids. This story has undergone massive changes in my brain since its inception, but something has finally bubbled up to the surface from the depths of my soul: the first book in a trilogy currently in the making: The Caverns of Cracklemore. 

Right now, our focus has been the realization of Caverns. But since getting married, we've welcomed three stunning(...ly wild and crazy) children into the world, and it has only fueled our desire to create stories for little children as well. 

In many ways, the impetus behind The Caverns of Cracklemore is a dream to read it aloud as a family when they hit the right age, and for one reason or another, The Caverns of Cracklemore has been our focus over the past couple of years. However, the truth is we spend most of our time in the land of little children, reading picture books, children’s poems, etc, thus it is our hope to spend the next decade to not only further the adventure of The Caverns of Cracklemore, but to also put flesh on all our ideas for children’s books as well. 

Whether it be picture books, poetry, chapter books (and more! Check out Mik’s Etsy shop!), STUDIO J&M aims to breathe life into beautiful art for the whole family for years to come.  

If you decide to invest, endless thanks to you and yours. 

Jace