TIME

Face time with Terry McMillan

WHEN TERRY MCMILLAN POPS UP ON MY screen, she tells me that she never uses FaceTime. I was nervous to meet the best-selling author who has been diving headfirst into the interiority of black friendships, romantic relationships and class structures for more than 30 years. I’d watched the film adaptation of her novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back with my friends. I’d studied the dialogue between groups of women in Waiting to Exhale while attempting to write my own. And I’d marveled at her effortless wit and passion in interviews with Oprah and on The Daily Show.

Through the phone screen, I tell McMillan that I never FaceTime either—and felt like I had to put on makeup to see her. She confesses she did the same, and we assure each other

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