After rushing in 25 minutes late for her speech, author and former UA associate professor Terry McMillan "exhaled" a chapter of her newest novel, When Stella Got her Groove Back, Saturday night.

McMillan, who also wrote Waiting to Exhale , which was made into a feature film in 1995, slouched on one leg and leaned on the podium as she read. Her delivery of one character, Stella, brought roars of laughter from the approximately 100 people in the audience.

"I like her dialogue and figurative language," said Debbie Winrow, a junior at Tucson High School, who said McMillan inspired her to continue writing poetry and short stories.

During a question-and-answer period, McMillan said that being a best-selling author does not make her different from everyone else.

"I do what everybody else does," she said, adding that she fulfills duties as a mother, sister, friend and girlfriend in addition to her career.

Paralleling aspects of her life with some of the women in her books, she said, laughing, "I give my characters my concerns, anxieties and hang-ups. It saves a shrink bill.

"Writing is a lot like being in love € you don't ever want it to end," she said.

McMillan taught creative writing at the UA from 1988 through 1991, said Bob Houston, director of the creative writing program at the UA.

McMillan received her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley and earned her master's in film at Columbia University, said Colette Marie Sims, a professor of African American studies.

McMillan's first novel, Mama, published in 1987, received the National Book Award. She has also received the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Sims said.

McMillan's talk was part of the Writing Works Center's third annual conference, through the UA Extended University. The three-day conference included panel discussions, speakers and writing reviews.

She told budding authors not to be discouraged if their works did not immediately become published.

"Just have a good time and let writing be a form of freedom," she said.