From teaching writing at NCSC to writing her own book, Mansfield woman's first novel on shelves

A retired English and writing class faculty member at North Central State College has penned her first novel, "Ndalla's World."

Franz has been writing and sculpting for years. She originally drafted the book over a decade and a half ago.

One reviewer called the book, "A love story. A mystical journey. An exploration of the power of stories in our lives and the kinds of risks a leader must take for the people she loves."

Franz said she first got the story down on paper the summer of 2005, but full time career and being a single parent didn't lend much time for her own writing.

"That's how long I've been sitting on the story and not really knowing what to do with it or how to get it out into the world," she said recently. "I thought it was a good story. I know I still have a lot to learn about writing stories."

She retired from teaching at NCSC in December 2020 after 30½ years and decided to take a shot at writing the book.

She said the story she wrote never fit neatly into one genre.

"It's a love story in it. It's an adult coming of age if I had to give it a name.... It's not really science fiction and not really fantasy," she said, adding the story is about a woman in her mid 30s coming of age who meets this other woman and a man who come from from this other time, this other place. She becomes strongly emotionally attached to this other young woman who ends up taking the narrator back to her world with her. It's a little bit of time in space travel involved."

"It's about a woman who has to adjust to being in another world," she said.

Franz said she has enjoyed working with her book editor.

Franz is known locally for her work with clay including a bronze bust of local businessman Grant Milliron with his distinctive beard. She has studio space in her rebuilt garage where she also spends time writing.

A native of Pennsylvania, Franz said she moved around growing up and came to Mansfield in 1990 and settled down. She became a mother in 1993 and said she "learned how to put down roots" after the birth of her son.

"Teaching writing and working with students and trying to get out of your own way as a writer are two totally different jobs," she said.

Her book is available on Atmosphere Press and also on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and locally at Holly's Book Rack.

Franz said she is already working on a sequel and has other projects on her mind now that she is retired.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

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Twitter: @LWhitmir