Thanks to Terry McMillan

Terry McMillan is one of the reasons I've stuck with writing. I've "dabbled" for many years. Science Fiction was my first love, although I didn't (and still don't) know a lot about the "science" of science fiction. I've always been a voracious reader, but oddly enough, haven't read very many of the "classics". I'm a big fan of Zora Neale Hurston, and Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of my ALL-time favorite novels. So here it is, 1993, and I pick up Waiting to Exhale from the library. I remember it was Friday evening when I started the book, and the sun was rising Saturday morning when I finished the book. Not a literary masterpiece, but it was a book I could totally relate to. African American writers like Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and others--these were writers who were on such a pedestal, and rightly so. BUT..they did not write about characters I knew. This was new to me--Terry McMillan wrote of characters that I knew intimately. I had friends I could recognize in Savannah, Bernie, Gloria and Robin. And that simple connection turned it all around for me. Write what you know finally made sense. That was a big hurdle for me, and I owe it to Terry McMillan