I was in my 50s, with my nest empty, when I gave myself permission to leave my career to follow my passion. There was only one problem. I didn’t know what that was. I bought a notebook to record every possibility, ranging from teaching government at a local high school to moving to Africa to work in an elephant sanctuary. At the same time, my relationship with myself needed attention. I had forgotten who I was before higher education, career, marriage, and motherhood replaced the creative person who used to act, dance, and write funny poems for every family member’s birthday. Writing and baking led me back to her.

Before then, I had a 30-year career in advocacy. After law school, I worked for Senators John Glenn and John Kerry, and later took on the Sisyphean task trying to clean up government by increasing transparency and decreasing money in politics. I lobbied Congress, wrote policy papers and ran a nonprofit while raising two children and four dogs in Washington, D.C. with my husband of 27 years.

Writing has always been my favorite part of any job, whether it’s been authoring blog posts, op-eds, white papers, or grant proposals. The volunteer work I most enjoy is helping disadvantaged high school students write their college application essays. I wasn’t surprised, therefore, to discover writing was my passion. I was a little more surprised to discover my zeal for baking cookies. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been, as I have always believed cookies should be a food group.

The combination of writing and cookie baking has brought me joy, and resulted in Half-Baked: Rediscovering Myself in an Empty Kitchen, the memoir in essays and cookie recipes that I’m working on. It is a later-in-life coming-of-age journey that proves there’s always time to better understand the influence of your past to create a fresh recipe for your future.