Meet the Author: Angie Marie

One thing I talk about a lot in the Word to the Wise newsletter is the importance of building a writing practice that works for your life—your creative cycles, physical/mental/emotional energy, and goals.
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This conversation with Angie Marie, author of The Cycle Syncing Handbook (affiliate link*), expands on that idea in fascinating ways.

Whether you menstruate or not, attending to changes in your body and energy can provide you with clues about your creativity!
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Angie Marie is an athlete, author, podcaster, and creative director fascinated by the intersection of adventure and womanhood.
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After spending years battling her body, Angie had a life-threatening experience with birth control. Time in nature led her to heal her relationship with her body, changing the way she moves, fuels, and adventures outdoors. It also led to a passion for menstrual cycle empowerment.
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Angie lives in Washington in the Columbia River Gorge, where she enjoys three-sport days. Find her work and her book about menstrual cycles at her website. You can also subscribe to Angie’s Substack.

Tell me about your journey to writing The Cycle Syncing Handbook.

Well, I never thought that I would be writing a book about periods. I always knew that I would write a book someday, like a lot of us do.

I remember being nine years old and thinking, of course, I'll be an author someday, duh. But also at nine years old, I didn't really think critically about the relationship to my body. That's just not really a thing for most of us until after puberty.

Even as a teenager, I still thought I would write a book someday. But that's also when I started getting all of these messages from society and school and magazines about what my body should be doing, or what I should be making my body do.

So, the long story short is that I ended up having a few years where I was extremely disconnected from my body.

I lost my period for about a year, and then just as I was getting my period back, I had an ectopic pregnancy, a pregnancy that occurs outside of the womb where it's supposed to be. That ended up rupturing my Fallopian tube and led me into an emergency surgery.

That was rock bottom for me, where I realized, “Oh wow, I was so disconnected from my body that I didn't even realize I was dying.” It was being in a life-threatening situation that spurred this part of my healing journey.

The biggest part of my healing journey was learning about my body and becoming body literate, especially around my menstrual cycle.

I became obsessed with birth and fertility and pregnancy and everything reproduction. I thought that my business would be to become a birth and fertility doula, because this new passion was so exciting. I thought I could do it on the side of what was then my full-time work.

I quickly realized I did not want to be on call for many weeks at a time. I want time freedom and location freedom. I pivoted and moved into teaching people virtually about their menstrual cycle.

I was dabbling in this side project, teaching people fertility awareness for birth control or for pregnancy. I was teaching people about menstrual cycle awareness and their inner seasons, and I got to a point where I could tell: This isn't it. This isn't the long-term business.

It was good for me to practice and start becoming a business owner, but it wasn't what I was going to do long-term. I actually decided, I’m done with what was called the Hormone Hacker. I'm done writing blogs. I'm done creating courses.

And, of course, that's when a publisher reached out to me. I got an email from a publisher in Berkeley, California, that I thought was a scam. As business owners, we get scam emails a million times a day, but the website looked legit, and everything they said appeared to be true online.

I told them I'd like a phone call. They told me about their process for finding new authors. They have their sales and acquisitions team meet quarterly, and they start to look at the market for emerging trends and niche topics where there aren't a lot of books.

Once they determine the topics that they would love to publish books about, they start combing the internet for consultants and coaches and anyone with a small business who has some sort of body of work online that fits what they're looking for.

That ended up being me. I decided to take an entire menstrual cycle to think about whether or not I wanted to accept the opportunity.

I thought I’d closed this chapter of life. I thought I was done with the Hormone Hacker. But also, I'd had that lifelong dream of wanting to write books.

Sometimes I feel weird saying this, because I know some people would kill to write a book and for me, it fell into my lap. But honestly, I saw it as, like, “Okay, you know what? This is a practice book. It is not going to be my life masterpiece.”

I don't actually focus on selling this book a lot, but it feels really good to have that opportunity. That opportunity was handed to me in a way that I felt was going to give me a good foundation for whatever I do in the future.

How did you decide you were going to take this opportunity, knowing this book isn’t the book?

I started off in a hesitant place, because during that year, I kept telling myself I don't have to climb the wrong mountains just because I love to climb.

This was like a metaphor that a life coach gave me, because I have historically always been the person to just say yes. I will take it on and spin a million plates at once.

I started to get overwhelmed, especially after I went fully self employed. I was so overwhelmed doing free work, underpaid work, helping other people out—and I still need to pay off my student loans.

My instinct was like, Well, if this isn't the book of my life, maybe I should say no. Maybe this is the wrong mountain to climb. But I thought, “Okay, let's give it an entire menstrual cycle.”

The way that I look at the menstrual cycle is that I have four different versions of myself throughout a month. During my follicular phase, it feels like an inner spring where I'm really inspired. In my inner summer, around ovulation, there might be weeks of the cycle where I feel like, “I'll write the book. I'll do whatever. Give me more. You know what? I'll do it for free.”

And then in my inner autumn, in my premenstrual time, I would start seeing more of those obstacles to writing a book. Do I actually have time for this? Do I actually even want to do this? Will this help me with my goals?

When I finally get my period, that's when I feel my most intuitive during the cycle. So I decided, “You know what, I'm going to take a full cycle of days to really think about this.” I was not putting the pressure on myself to make a decision right away.

By the time my next period rolled around, I knew intuitively that this was a super unique opportunity, and what's the worst that could happen? I spend a lot of time practicing writing. So I decided, let's do it.

Truly the entire like the book wrote itself because of that, I swear.

What was the writing process like once you decided to take this project on?

I definitely had an advantage, because I had had years’ worth of course materials and blog posts. To be honest, this book is definitely more of a culmination of all of those blog posts and coursework.

It's not like this brand new material that I was creating. It's not the number one thought leadership book in the world.

It really felt more like a capstone to this project that I decided to sunset, and so I tried not to let myself feel guilty about repurposing what was already existing.

There's also plenty that didn't make it into the book. The book doesn't teach you how to chart your cycle, for example, because I didn't want to write a more science-y book where people would get mad at me if they did it wrong and ended up pregnant when they didn't want to be.

I really tried to make it a mindset book. I decided I was going to take all that I have about periods and menstrual cycle awareness and the four season framework and repurpose it.

I started off thinking, “I'm going to have structure. I'm going to write X-thousand words a day, and I'm going to do it exactly in this order.”

And within a couple days, I was like, “Whoa. That is antithetical to everything I'm even talking about in this book.”

In fact, in the creativity chapter, I literally have a table showing what linear writing would look like, which is forcing yourself to do X amount of words a day, or making yourself show up to your desk every single day, even when you're not feeling inspired.

This is versus more cyclical thinking, which would be some days, I'm writing zero words and other days I'm writing 5,000 words.

Some days I feel like really in the mood for editing, where other days I feel more in the mood for outlining, and other days I feel really like the words are just coming out, and I can really trace those to the different parts of my cycle.

So I decided I need to practice what I preach. If I'm writing a book about how to use your menstrual cycle for creativity and living a happier, happier, healthier life, then that's how I'm going to write the book.

It really ended up being so unstructured. And I know some people might balk at that and think, “Oh my gosh, I need structure.”

We all have different preferences and personalities. But I wonder what would happen if you just tried for a week to really tune into your energy. Are you in the mood for editing? Are you in the mood for creating, drafting?

I’ve got to say, I almost feel ashamed sharing this. It does feel a little bit embarrassing. It feels a little risky to say, like people would get mad: I tracked my time pretty diligently, and it took me about 60 hours total to draft the 35,000 words. In the grand scheme of things, that’s nothing.

They gave me most of the year to do it, so there were 60,000 words of new content and repurposing old content. I think that kind of proves that the method really worked for me.

What does the book and its material look like in your current life?

In the book, I try to separate out chapters based on facets of life that are really dominant, at least in my lifestyle.

I talk about eating. I talk about movement and exercise, because my favorite thing to do in the world is outdoor sports. I talk about relationships with yourself and others, and I talk about creativity and work.

Within all of those, I write about how the four seasons of a cycle can help you tune into what you actually need today. What do I want to do today? Do I need more alone time, or am I feeling really social?

I'm checking in with my cycle all the time. I'm on cycle day four right now, which for me, it’s the end of my winter, and I'm entering spring. I'm starting to feel more motivated again.

I was just voice memoing my coach earlier today, and I was like, “Okay, now I have a clear idea of the top two priorities for the next week, and over the next week I want to sit down and flesh them out.” That matches up with my cycle perfectly.

Right now I'm exiting that time of figuring out intuitively what I want and what's most important and what I can leave aside, and I'm entering my springtime, which is more strategic and playful and planning focused.

What was the rest of your publishing process like?

I signed the contract with the publisher in late December of 2022 and the manuscript was due in May of 2023. I felt a little bit of time pressure at first, until I realized, wow, this is coming out way faster than I expected.

Honestly, it's such a small, indie publisher. They're distributed by Simon and Schuster, so I knew the book would make it everywhere books are sold, but also I knew marketing would be mostly on me.

They were pretty hands off, and I basically set my own deadlines with the team to check in. They blocked off May into July for editing and revisions, which really weren't that much work. It was mostly formatting.

I think had they been a bigger publisher, bigger team, they'd probably have a lot more work. But it was very hands off. It was very much like I was driving the bus for my own book.

I do remember another “practice what I preach” moment was that I had the opportunity to go on a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon in February and March of 2023.

That was just a couple months before the manuscript was due, and I was feeling a little bit like, “Ooh, how am I going to get this all done by May, when I am taking off 21 days to go completely off-grid?”

I knew I wasn't going to sit down at camp and hand-write drafts. I printed out the manuscript thinking I would take notes, and of course, I did nothing.

I remember thinking, “Okay, well, maybe I see this Grand Canyon rafting trip, 21 days off-grid, as a winter time in my creativity and just let things sit, knowing that they're waiting for me when I come back there.”

I spent that time noticing and observing nature and my own body and being with friends in an outdoor space, and oh my gosh, it was so magical, coming back and sitting down at my desk for the first time.

I didn't feel behind at all. I felt so ready to go. It felt like, by having an extended winter time, I could then go 100% or 110% into the seasons where I was going to be drafting more and producing more original work.

That was also really interesting proof that building in those times for a rest and taking breaks can make those other parts of your cycle have those strengths come out more in the other seasons.

What would you do differently for your next book?

One thing that I don't know if I'm necessarily insecure about, because I did make the conscious decision of making this a capstone of what I had existing online, but I do think that the next book would be a little bit more stand-out.

It would have to repel certain people more. I think when I was writing this book, I was trying to write it for every menstruator, and I'm really leaning into the season now, like, come at me if you don't agree with me.

I’m going to declare what I believe. And if you're not my people, you don't have to be my people. I want to be more radical in my messaging. I want to be super out of the box.

I want to show off more of my thought leadership, instead of trying to be something for everybody. I have an idea that I think will be the book someday, and I think that it's going to be maybe more controversial.

It's not about periods, but it is about womanhood and the outdoors, which are my passions. I think that’s something that I'm okay with people hating if they hate it.

It gave me some background on the nuts and bolts of writing a book with a publisher, because I got to skip the proposal. They came to me. I didn't need a literary agent. I had a lot of privilege, to be honest, in the fact that an indie publisher identified me and then came to me.

It also means that their budget wasn't big, right? I got a $4,000 advance. Actually, here's a tip, if an indie publisher comes to anybody. They offered me, I think, a $3,000 advance. I hemmed and hawed for a bit.

I decided that because I’d need to take some time off work to focus on writing the manuscript in just five months, could they do $4,000? They immediately said yes, and I immediately thought I should have asked for more.

So, 99% of people, I don't think, are going to rescind an offer because you ask for more. It is always a conversation when it comes to working with anyone.

Now that I have an idea of how the nuts and bolts work, I think I would consider self-publishing or working with specific publishers that I have a connection with through my other work.

I would weigh the pros and cons of self-publishing versus indie publisher versus big publisher, and figure out not just energy-wise and how much I have to put into marketing myself, but also how many hours are going to go into this, and does that advance really pay off?

I think $4,000 for my next book wouldn't be enough. That might mean that I self-publish, because if I could sell that through my other work, then I have a better chance of selling more copies.

What is next for you creatively?

I talked earlier about the idea of more thought leadership and finding your community across the world, because we're so connected digitally. The other side of that is repelling people I don't want to work with creatively.

Over this past spring, I've been really thinking about what makes me so different in the way that I approach work, that it is going to tell people whether or not I'm the right fit.
For me, the framework that I've been playing with for the past few months has been around blood, sweat, and fear.

I've been noticing that over the years, everything I do about womanhood and its intersection with the outdoors comes down to blood, which is our connection with our inner nature, which is entirely what The Cycle Syncing Handbook (affiliate link*) is about.

It comes down to sweat, which is going out and pushing your body to do hard things outdoors. And adventure and then fear, which is speaking up and talking about the really difficult things.

I know that I have a talent for helping facilitate spaces where people feel like they have the outlet and the tools and the confidence to talk about those trickier topics.

Right now, creativity for me looks like, how do I take this blood, sweat, and fear framework that is everything I do and make that my capital-T Thing, so that I can be like, “You know what? If you don't want to talk about blood, get out of here.”

My substack is named Blood, Sweat, and Fear, and I have a talk with the same name. I think things are coming together, and I'm learning to be a little bit more declarative around who I am and what I want and how I can help other people.

If you had to give a piece of advice to another writer, what would you tell someone?

One thing I did in my Google Doc manuscript was this: You can write whatever you want in the header, right? I put three reasons why I was writing the book.

While I was drafting, I wanted to remind myself of, like, what is the actual point of this? Why am I here?

One of those reasons was, I get to learn the process of writing a book, and that is worthwhile in itself. Even if I'm not going to sell 10,000 copies, even if I'm not going to use this in my work every day for the rest of my life, I'm getting a valuable learning opportunity.

Having those three why statements at the top of every page while I was typing was really helpful.

What's the best book that you've read recently?

I read like five books at once. I'm usually nonfiction. I love nonfiction, I love memoirs, and I was very late to the game for somebody who's really into sports and outdoors and running.

Lauren Fleshman’s Good for a Girl (affiliate link*) fired me up about the work that I'm doing and realizing other women have paved the way for what I'm doing now. It's my duty to keep paving that way for future women in sports.

For fiction, I was in Portugal last fall, and this book came with me during the entire bike trip. It's By Any Other Name (affiliate link*), by Jody Picoult. It goes between present-day and Shakespearean times. It turns out Shakespeare was a woman, and I fully believe it. I could not put it down.

Meet the Author interviews are lightly edited for clarity.

I enjoyed getting the chance to talk with Angie about her writing and publishing experiences.

I especially loved her reflections on negotiating with a publisher (the worst they’ll probably say is no!) and thinking about her first book as a capstone learning experience.

One last thing... The Consortium of Arts Related Entrepreneurs (CARE) is an online community where independent arts workers ditch isolation for connection. It’s your professional nest for support, celebration, and the nudges you need to fly. ​Doors are open Sept 15-26 only!​ Use WRITE15 for 15% off your first payment.​

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