I'd decide first if my goals were pro or hobby, freelance or hired, then I'd organize photography in terms of the various divisions of interest and pick my favorite whether it be portraits, sports, wildlife, macro, landscape, nature, weddings, birds in flight, product like food, etc., or some of the major subdivisions of one or more of the major interest areas and then toss my hat into that ring first, drilling down as far as it pleased me before moving on to other interests. You've been mostly advised to go helter skelter into the world and shoot everything but nothing in particular until you become psycho trying to remember what you did last time you shot a cactus flower a year ago. Won't work. Every day brings exposure to new subject matter, different requirements in terms of your skills and equipment, etc. Analyze where your interests primarily lie, get the required equipment to achieve the level where you want to function and specialize. Don't split your interests until you're satisfied that you can repeat your actions and get what you want next time you want to do it. You are not likely to ever achieve a level of expertise that will allow you to just "shoot anything you see" at a level that will satisfy you in the long run because of the new subjects we encounter each and every day. Hone in on where your interests lie and attack it systematically and do what it takes to achieve that.

As a hobbyist, I've been "helter skelter" for nearly fifty years but recently saw that I needed to drop back, pare down, and focus on narrow interests to get the kind of quality I want in my shots and it makes a lot of difference in the outcome. The before and after is amazing. The bad thing is that the number of areas of interest are so massive, diverse, time consuming, require different skills, technique, different equipment, and different energy levels. You have to adjust your desires to the natural resources around you and live with the constraints of your current circumstances unless you plan to and are willing to change them. For instance, deciding you're a wildlife shooter when you live in an area where wildlife is scarce is not a good choice and there are other practical issues that come to bear on your choices, day jobs, finances, transportation, freedom to travel, etc. I'd say your next move is going to come after some serious analysis and soul searching but the last thing you want to do is grab your camera, head out the door, and shoot everything that moves or doesn't. On the other hand, only you know what you want - maybe that would make you happy, a burned out stump here, a rusty ol' pickup there, daily sunsets, etc...

Be your own critic. Look at your work from year to year. If you can't look at something you did last March and say to yourself -"what was I thinking?" then you aren't advancing. This forum is overrun with people who read a lot and are "experts" but never really take pictures, preferring to just talk about photography - don't be that guy.

The best way to do this is a two-pronged approach - take more pictures, and look at the work of others. If you like something, ask yourself "why?" and vice versa. Then look at your own work and repeat the process. Your ability to rely on your own aesthetic sense, developing it along the way, will get you to where you want to go. For now - put the books and courses and other instructionals away - buy a huge hard drive (or two) and start filling it up.

I don't think it has been mentioned here, but as a musician you get better by copying what better musicians do. You can apply the same with photography. Find photos on flickr you admire. Look at the settings (f-stop, iso, shutter speed and focal length of the picture). Then try to copy pics you admire until you can produce something similar. That will improve your photography. Trying to study techniques can help to some extent, but you can use good technique and still get a mediocre picture. The same is true in painting. Painters learn by copying other paintings. There comes that aha moment when you get it right. Just like playing an instrument, and just the same with a camera. Practice without a target won't do it. You can practice for ten years, but without a target you will just have 6 months of experience, repeated 20 times.

I am sort of in the same boat as you. I wasn't a total beginner, but I have only taken my progression in photography seriously for the last twelve months. I feel I have developed enormously in those twelve months. I read a lot, I do courses and workshops, go to my camera club regularly and get out and shoot at least every weekend. However, posting my shots here on UHH has been by far, the greatest tool in my progression. I made a commitment to myself to post here at least once a month. For the most part I have kept to that commitment. That commitment doesn't just make me get out shooting, but challenges me to produce better shots. The feedback gives great encouragement and often produces great suggestions and advice. Even 'views' that don't leave feedback can be a measure of what works and what doesn't.
Taking physical (as opposed to online) courses is also a great way to develop. Course assignments make you push yourself. My last class assignment was to take 9 shots of a plain white bed sheet. My first reaction was 'what the hell!!!' , but the challenge pushed me to try a bunch of things like macro and starbursts that I might not have tried otherwise.

Get out of your comfort zone and take images of new subjects/genre.

I went to college for a year. It did not really teach me about using a camera but it did teach me about many different genres and to take images within them. So instead of taking holiday, landscape and celebrations I moved onto studio, models, still life, portraits, environmental, film and darkroom, large format, macro, infrared, impossible images, sport, and theory (which it sounds like you already have). I have probably forgotten a few topics.

What tyedyetommy said, It's time to start thinking outside the books, and start trusting your eye, your instincts, and a few others alluded to is what might be the most helpful advice right now.

It sounds as though you may be so tied up in left brain thinking and technique that you aren't allowing the creativity to grow. Get away from thinking and just feel.

Rather than be concerned about perfect exposure, depth of field or focal length, allow yourself to get lost in the moment. Find subjects, scenes, weather, cities or events that are of great interest to you outside of photography and then go and take a bunch of pictures of it, them, that. Have fun while you're at it!

Then evaluate which of your results best represents the mood, emotion, feeling of your experience.

Check out these short articles:

Linda, thanks for the links. I like your work and your attitude towards your photography. I will take your comments seriously.

http://photographylife.com/whats-important-in-a-photograph-and-what-isnt/

http://www.simplerphoto.com/technically-perfect/

Don't let obsession with technical perfection or following the "rules" outweigh inspiration, creativity and emotion.