Challenge #5: Talk about what has improved in your life thanks to fandom.

First off, I've made friends: first, when I joined the Forever Knight mailing lists, particularly FORKNI-L; and then when I joined LiveJournal and Dreamwidth communities, particularly maryrenaultfics and fkficfest.

Second, I've done a lot of writing. It's true that, before I ever went on line, I wrote fannishly without an audience; but, both in the context of fandom-specific community activities and in the context of gift exchanges, I've done very much more—and more varied, in quite a range of fandoms.