Coffee + TV

Eventually I did start reading books again, and I’m happy about it, but honestly? Who cares if what I was reading for a long time wasn’t published by a paid author? Reading fanfic brings me joy, a very specific kind of joy that I can’t always get from books, and allows me to share that joy directly with the authors! That’s amazing, and something you rarely get with books. All of which is to say:

If you’re the kind of person who used to read so many books and now you read nothing but fanfic, you should feel ZERO shame about this.

If you’re only reading poetry, or only short stories, or only fanfic, you’re still reading stories. Even if all you’re reading is twitter or tumblr, you’re still reading stories.

Even if you’re reading nothing at all, I still don’t think you should be ashamed. 

You love stories, and you will read more when you have the spoons to do so. And in the meantime, stories come in other forms, and right now maybe you’re getting your stories from TV or movies, or maybe you’re writing your own stories in your head—enjoying them, thinking about them, dissecting them with like-minded fans, writing meta about them. Those are all good and valid ways of experiencing stories! And when you find that you need more than that, you will read books again eventually. 

Julie Gautier, French deep-sea diver, dancer, and filmmaker, performs an underwater dance in the world’s most deepest pool in Venice, Italy.