#adablackjack

On #worldbookday I’m so thankful for every book I’ve ever read and written. For every bookseller, librarian, educator, bibliophile, publisher, and reader. For my amazing mom, an author herself, and my amazing dad, for passing down their love of books to me. Read on, lovelies! And thank you for being you! 📚📚📚💖 (photo of all my books: @silent_rhino Not pictured: BREATHLESS, coming Oct 6!!!) #worldbookday2020 #books #read #mybooks #reading #ilovebooks #ilovereading #gratitude #mybrightplaces #velvajean #theicemaster #adablackjack #aquanetdiaries #holdinguptheuniverse #allthebrightplaces https://www.instagram.com/p/B_V1H_OJxWy/?igshid=1wru9tdt0tnt6

White Canvas Backpack by AdaBlackjack

We may not have found Elvis, but we did leave some books behind. Dear Memphis-area lovelies: I’ve left these signed books in the lobby lending library at the @guesthousegraceland 🎶📚 They’re yours for the taking! Please consider leaving a book behind as well! ❤️ #greatamericanreadtrip #allthebrightplaces #holdinguptheuniverse #theicemaster #adablackjack #theaquanetdiaries #graceland #memphis #freebooks #signedbooks #wander #leavesomethingbehind (at The Guest House at Graceland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwBOimOhXmw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ompqjndmkax3

A photo from the Writing Cave, aka my office, aka the nerve center of my house. Here are some of my books and my mom’s books, sitting side by side, along with a few keepsakes and fan gifts and awards. I’ve been writing full time since 1998, which I can’t quite believe. 20 years! And there are still so many, many stories to tell... 👩‍💻💕📚📚📚 #mybookshelf #mybooks #bookstagram #insidethewritingcave #amwriting #books #allthebrightplaces #holdinguptheuniverse #theicemaster #velvajean #adablackjack #carlsandburg #thorntonwilder #jamesearljones #edwardsteichen (at Los Angeles, California)

Meet Fred Maurer. 28 years old. From New Philadelphia, Ohio. He’d left home at 18 to pursue his dreams of adventure, and in 1913 signed aboard an ill-fated Arctic expedition as fireman. He was one of only 14 survivors, and returned home to Ohio with the expedition cat, who also survived. He joined the army in WWI, but he could never get over the Arctic and he yearned to go back. Handsome. Kind. Stoic. Calm and cool. A gentleman. He married the fashionable Delphine Jones on August 11, 1921, and two days later joined three other men and one woman to head into the Arctic once again... 🚢❄️❄️❄️ (Who do you think should play him in the movie?) #adablackjack #wrangelisland #arctic #arcticexpedition #fredmaurer #explorer #polarexplorer #adventure #moviemonday

Meet Milton Galle (seen here with expedition cat Victoria, or Vic). Age 19. From New Braunfels, Texas. He was wickedly funny, sure of himself, and possessed an easy charm and restless good looks that apparently made the local girls swoon. Parents adored him, boys admired him, and girls developed wild crushes. His mother and father raised him to think freely, to explore, and to appreciate life. He believed he could do anything he set his mind to. The thing he wanted most: to go north. He campaigned hard to join the 1921 Wrangel Island Expedition, and when he was finally accepted, he packed his Corona typewriter and left for the Arctic without looking back. When it was time to choose supplies for the expedition, his only request was that they take 26 boxes of candy. In Texas he’d climbed the bell tower of his mother’s church, but in the Arctic he scaled mountains and grew his very first beard. “I shall not shave or dress up until next year,” he wrote. ❄️❄️❄️ (I’d love to see @tchalamet or @darryltdale play him in the movie!) #adablackjack #moviemonday #wrangelisland #arctic #arcticexpedition #miltongalle #explorer #polarexplorer #adventure

Last but not least, meet Ada Blackjack. 23 years old. From Nome, Alaska. She was a single mother who had divorced her abusive husband and needed money to support her three-year-old son. When she heard about an expedition looking to hire local Inuit to help with sewing and hunting, she signed up. She was an expert seamstress, but she was deathly afraid of guns and polar bears and knew nothing about surviving in the wild. But she was desperate for money. On the day they were to set sail for the high Arctic, Ada was the only Inuit to show up at the docks. She fell in love with Crawford’s green eyes and elegant manner, but the men looked at her as an obstacle that would hold them back and interfere with their expedition. No one could foresee what would happen... Two years later, Ada alone emerged from the Arctic, having taught herself the skills she needed to survive. ❄️❄️❄️ #adablackjack #heroineofthenorth #femaleRobinsonCrusoe #wrangelisland #arctic #arcticexploration #explorer #adventure #girlpower #inspiringwomen #arcticexpedition #polarexplorer #strongwomen #womenempowerment #womenhistorymonth

#TBT to that time I traveled to the Arctic aboard a Russian ice breaker to visit the setting of my first two books. It's still a journey I'll never forget, and I'm so excited that one of those books (Ada Blackjack) is being turned into a movie! ❄️🚁🚢 #wrangelisland #arctic #quarkexpeditions #siberia #russianarctic #adablackjack #theicemaster #expedition #throwbackthursday (at Wrangel Island)