Exploration: Writing for a living?

So, I'm exploring the idea of writing for a living... Technical writing would be first of all, a way to pay the bills. Beyond that, it would give me a chance to use some of my creative talents to move forward with my life.

Technical writing is going to be hard to move into - I only have a few samples of my work for my portfolio, since most of what I've written has been company-proprietary documents.

Creative writing would be even more interesting to me, but it would also be almost impossible to get anyone to take notice. I have an interest in science fiction, but have never really tried to write anything more than a short story.

I also have some interest in journalism, but, that's an area where it would be hard to be taken seriously without a degree.

There's also some sites out there on the web to publish and possibly make some money, not sure how far I could go there, but it sounds intriguing.

Thoughts?