Fanfic, a waste of time?

I suppose it was the natural progression of things. I like writing. I like roleplaying. Then the worlds collided and I started writing stories about the characters that I was playing. Part of me feels very guilty when I sit down and craft out an entire story based on a roleplay character. Especially if that character is based in WoW. Every single time, I feel like I am wasting my time. I should be putting my energy into writing something "real". And by real, I probably just mean the story isn't based off of something that another person created. I'm not entirely sure why I feel like this. I mean, writing is writing and you can only get better at writing if you write, right? What does it matter if I am cutting my teeth on some fan fiction? Sure I can't land the latest bestseller with it, but does that really matter?

But no, there is this voice in the back of my head that keeps screaming that I am wasting time. That I should be working on things that could possibly be published and not mess around with things that really aren't going to matter in the long run. But writing for my rp characters is so much fun. I love fleshing them out and making them real. I love giving them side stories and backgrounds and adding dimensions to them. And what I love most of all is having other players see these stories and understanding my character a bit more.

So it is a constant fight. Write side stories for my rp characters or write stories that could possibly go into a book that will have my name on it. Right now, WoW fanfiction is winning.