Maybe I should write a story called The Wrong Tree. Perhaps it should be my autobiography...

As some who know me already know, I'm trying to make some key decisions about my life, especially regarding my career. Despite posing as an author here, I should clarify that I have never been published for pay, other than self-publishing a small (tiny!) book of short stories via CafePress, which has sold only a few times. As for unpaid publishing, that's pretty limited too -- a political piece in a newsletter, an academic paper in the proceedings of an annual meeting of the Western Decision Sciences Institute, that sort of thing. And, of course, online publishing of short stories on my own Web site, which I don't recall ever resulting in any reader commentary and certainly no monetary or other "tip jar" donations.

So is writing just a waste of time for me? Just an idle thing to do when I have some free time, or I'm looking for a way to avoid doing some unpleasant chore? There's no hint of anything in my past that would suggest a writing-based career, whether creative, technical, or otherwise. This puts into question whether I will get any significant writing done anytime soon, despite my "2008 goals" comments earlier.