I don't know about a suggestion. I would say this is your choice. If I were you, I might try my hand at writing a book. Not a small task, and theres maybe a chance of complete failure in that regard, but its what I would consider.

I've been thinking about getting a VPS to host node projects on. While it's definitely pricier than shared hosting, it seems very worth it: total autonomy over your server.

You mentioned PHP 5.2 isn't good enough right now (I agree). Would you take CD a radically different direction on a vps? Would you go down the path of python, or dare I say it...ruby? If you are looking for some new direction to take CD backend-wise, I highly recommend Node. (I'm flat-out addicted to node right now, and have gained a lot more reverence and respect for JS than I ever thought I would.)