I am (Martha) Anne Guice (Webb) Wingate. I am married, with three living children (we lost one seven years ago) and two stepchildren. We have seven grandchildren and anticipate more; I also have two step-grandchildren whom we have never met, and one granddog. I have been writing as long as I have known how to put words on paper, but I sold my first book at 38. You might call me a late bloomer. I write as Anne Wingate, Lee Martin, and Martha G. Webb.
I am autistic, as my father and his mother and my uncle and grand uncle on the other side were, and as my son is. My son and my late daughter also have/had schizophrenia. My husband is bipolar, though he keeps it under control as long s he remembers to take his meds on time. Unfortunately, there are no meds to take for autism, and I also have Parkinson's, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and severe arthritis. But I get as much done as I can, including making our own bread and pizza and yogurt. I used to make pickles and bottle veggies and fruit, but my husband has now ruled that out because I fall so often that I could wind up pulling a pot of boiling water over on myself (I have already broken my back falling in the kitchen, and we don't want to try for a repeat). We also distill our own water, because our water mains are eighty years old and full of mud. I have to clean mud out of the distillers after every run, and one time I found a pretty pink boiled worm in the bottom of one of the distillers. We call this "sunshining" because it involves distillers but not alcohol. Using alcohol is against our religion.
I love writing, reading, editing, book reviewing, audiobook reviewing, and just about anything to do with books. My husband and I have different tastes in videos and neither of us watches much television, so I recently bought my own DVD viewer so that I could watch my own videos in my bedroom while he is watching war videos in the living room. I just finished the first edit on Legend Quest by our friend Carl, which I hope you will soon have the privilege of reading. Carl insists that he doesn't have dyslexia; his fingers do; but his fingers have a lot of it, so his books call for a lot of editing and proofreading. I don't mind doing it, because they are very interesting books. Anybody who can get from Vlad Dracula in the first chapter to the CIA in the last four chapters, and make it work, is an amazing writer. Also, he is now a general, after coming up from buck private, and anybody who can spend thirty years in Special Forces and still be alive is a violator of the law of averages. But we're glad he violated them, because he and we have a mutual admiration society. He also jumps out of planes (with parachutes) for fun. You would have to push me out.
Because my husband and I are both semi-invalids, we don't have very many friends, but those we have really count in the rolls of "good people" in the world and out of it. They include Dan, who is a computer repairman and Web page creator; Eleanor, who is the epitome of a good Christian woman who is filled with love and compassion; Manny, who is the best handyman in the world except that he doesn't get the concept of being on time; and Julee, who is the best housecleaner in the world and is now raising some of her grandchildren. We also have many friends in the science fiction and fantasy world. Although we have six college degrees between us, we don't have any friends in academia except peripherally. There is Helge, but he is a computer tech in the school of independent studies.
I have been a cop, where I worked in CSI, fingerprints, and the sex crimes unit; an Avon saleswoman, a communications consultant, and a Volkswagen saleswoman; and a college teacher. I have a Ph.D. in English, and I strongly suspect that I am the only person who has ever been ruled a fingerprint expert in state courts in two states and in federal court, and also has a Ph.D. in English. My tastes in life are as eclectic as my tastes in reading.
I have been reviewing for Amazon for many years and began reviewing for other companies on July 4, 2012. I am a long-time editor and I am looking for editing work to do. I particularly like to work with textbooks for grades 5 through 12 in language arts and social studies; fiction, especially mysteries and fantasies; and nonfiction, especially archaeology and ancient history.
I would talk to you some more, but I have to go check the bread that's baking. Thank you for reading so much. I'm sorry, but I don't know how to write short.
