Intersection Column | The Best-Laid Plans
- mtlmagazine
- Jul 21
- 4 min read
by Jennifer L. Wright
Last Light Over Galveston wasn’t a book I had planned on writing.
I had actually been working on another book for almost a year and a half. But, despite my best efforts, it just wasn’t coming together as I intended. Finally, after several rounds of frustratingly ineffective edits, my publisher suggested I put it on the backburner and focus on something else instead.
The only problem? I had zero ideas for a new book.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Trying to force a story that just wasn’t working had drained me, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I am not ashamed to admit I cried when I realized I needed to start over again from scratch. I honestly felt as if I had nothing left.
So I did what I always do when I feel burnt out: I went to the library.
Perhaps you can relate. When the demands of the real world seem too much, there’s nothing quite like escaping into another. Picking myself up off the floor, I made the ten-minute drive to my local library, ready to lose myself (and my troubles) inside a recently released book I’d been dying to read.
But the book, I discovered when I arrived, had just been checked out.
Seriously, it just wasn’t my day. Or week. Or month for that matter.
Not having the energy to do a full-up search for something else to read, I grabbed the nearest display book with a semi-interesting cover: Isacc’s Storm, by Erik Larson. I’d read several of Larson’s narrative nonfiction accounts before, and this tale of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane seemed promising. I’d always been a bit of a weather nerd.
Turns out, Larson’s book was more than just promising. It was fascinating. Within only a few pages, I was hooked. By the time I was halfway through, I knew this was going to be the topic of my next book. And, when I finished it and returned to the library to grab a few more books on the storm—Al Roker’s (yes, that Al Roker) Storm of the Century and Casey Edward Greene’s Through a Night of Horrors—Kathleen’s terrifying experience inside the monster hurricane had already solidified inside my brain.
But coming up with the action of the plot was only half the battle. Yes, my protagonist was going to have to battle for her life against a major storm. But why should anyone care? To compete with the drama of her circumstances, her internal struggle would have to be just as intense.
Turns out, God had an answer for that plot point, too.
As Last Light Over Galveston was sprouting in my head, I wasn’t just in a rough place professionally; I was in a rather difficult place personally as well. My husband was preparing to retire from the Air Force after twenty years of active duty. While this was exciting, it was also a time of immense anxiety. Our entire marriage, the military had told us where to go and what to do. Now, all of that was up to us, and we had some major decisions to make. Everything was about to change. The future was uncertain.
And scary.
Then, one weekend, I attended a conference at my local church. During worship, the band broke into a rendition of “Firm Foundation” by Maverick City Music. The tune is quite popular now, but at the time, it was relatively new. As I held up my hands and took in the lyrics, a couple of lines in particular stuck out to me:
Rain came, wind blew/ My house was built on You/ I'm safe with You/ I'm gonna make it through.
Galveston was already on my mind so the part about the rain and wind naturally caught my attention. But it also touched me on a deeper spiritual level. Perhaps the reason I was feeling so much anxiety over my husband’s upcoming retirement was because I had built my “house” upon his military career. Though I trusted God, it was really the structure, the lifestyle, and the financial security active duty brought to our lives that I was really placing my confidence in. And now, with the rain coming and the wind blowing, uprooting all that we knew, I was being shaken to my core.
I had built my house on the wrong foundation.
And I instantly knew where the spiritual thread of Last Light Over Galveston needed to lie.
Because we’ve all been guilty of this, haven’t we? Putting our trust in the wrong people, places, or things? And, when reality comes crashing down, as it inevitably does, where do we go from there?
These are the questions I explored in my new novel. And I hope readers, in traveling along with Kathleen, will find the strength to examine their own foundations and discover the only One who will never let them down.
About the Author
Jennifer Wright has been writing since middle school, eventually earning a master’s degree in journalism from Indiana University. However, it took only a few short months of covering the local news to realize that writing fiction is much better for the soul—and definitely way more fun. A born and bred Hoosier, she was swept off her feet by an Air Force pilot and has spent the past decade traveling the world and, every few years, attempting to make old curtains fit in the windows of a new home. She currently resides in New Mexico with her husband, two children, one grumpy Dachshund, and an overly demanding guinea pig.
About the Book
In September 1900, one horrific event shattered Kathleen McDaniel’s picturesque life. After leaving the place she called home, she finds refuge at St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum on Galveston Island, where she helps the nuns care for their young charges. Despite her tenuous standing at the orphanage—and the grief and betrayal that drove her from home—Kathleen slowly begins to make friends. But there is a storm in the Gulf and as it gets closer to landfall, Kathleen must gather her courage and reach for a strength beyond her own if she—and those she loves—are to survive.