How the Blues Inspired Me

While I was writing The Wishing Fence I was also listening to my Blues Play List and heard “Mannish Boy” by Muddy Waters.  I thought of a woman sitting on her front porch watching the kids in the neighborhood and realized that “mannish boy” is a southern term that means a boy acting like a man.  I decided that was a perfect term for Miss Doreen to use when she referred to Shaka, D’Shawndre and Barry as they walked by her house on almost a daily basis.  I tried it out and loved her using the phrase.

As they would walk by her house she would shout out “You be careful you mannish boys,” and their reply was always the same, “We will.”

In writing you often put in things that are familiar to you.  Your childhood, adult life or something that happened along the way that made an impression on you.  For me, it was my neighborhood and the caring people on 56Th Street in South Central Los Angeles.

Because I am a fan of the blues, I listen to a lot of it and some of the songs by some great blues men and women fit so naturally into my story.

Keep tunning into my blog and I will tell you where each song played a part in the story.