I love fan fiction because I think it's dumb.

Let me explain.

Fan fiction is my guilty pleasure. I love it, but I hate that I love it. I hate that I have these dumb ideas for characters and that I have this compulsive urge to write it down. I hate that I go and search for stories with my favorite characters and I read them all even though a lot of them are terrible.

I waste so much time on this website and I'm pretty sure I'd be valedictorian by now if I hadn't discovered it seven years ago.

There have been times when I've decided to put fan fiction behind me. I've decided that I'm too old for this, I'm too good for this, I'm too busy for this.

But, like an alcoholic back to the bottle, I find myself on this blue-and-white site. I find myself 2 pages into a Word document, wondering how I got there and what this gibberish on the screen is. But then I read what I wrote and I realize what's going on, and then I keep writing.

I really am too old for this, too busy for this.

But it taught me now to write. It taught me how to adapt my style to different universes and even between characters. It taught me how to be creative and how to actually finish the things I start.

It also taught me how to procrastinate, but that's water under the bridge.

My point is, fan fiction, at it's core, is a silly way to spend your time. However, it and the people on it are some of the best teachers out there.