Should I go to culinary school?

Here's the deal. I love writing, in fact one day I want to be a screenwriter/novelist. However, I'm a realist and know I need something stable and retail is just not working out for me anymore. I'm 34 and want to feel content in my career area before I hit 40. So I was thinking about culinary school. People say I'm a good at cooking and would make a great chef. Two schools I'm considering are New England Culinary Institute (Montpelier, Vt.) or the French Culinary Institute (Campbell Ca. and NYC). Before I make that next step I'm wondering if I should give it a few more months to see if anything happens with my writing and then go into it. If I sell a novel or screenplay by January I can afford the school. I've got some connections in the NYC publishing world. I kind of want to avoid having to get grants and financial aid. So bottom line is should I do this or wait to see how the writing pans out? I don't want to get my degree in it and find out one cancels out the other because of time constraints.