Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between

by Lauren Graham

still find that, in general, having a plan is, well, a good plan. But when my carefully laid plan laughed at me, rather than clutch at it too tightly I just made a new one, even if it was one that didn’t immediately make sense. In blindly trying a different path, I accidentally found one that worked better.

Because who wants to Fast Forward anyway? You might miss some of the good parts. I’d rather keep pushing the rewind button

think part of our frustration/fascination in this arena is because we’re always holding out hope that there’s a secret combination of elements that will make something that isn’t easy a little easier:

One thing I learned: starting off with very low standards is a surefire way to ensure they’ll be met.

As my friend Oliver Platt used to say to me about hopes and dreams I’d share with him: “It’s coming, just not on your time frame.”

It’s hard to say exactly when it will happen, and it’s true that whatever you’re after may not drop down the moment you spend all your quarters, but someday soon a train is coming. In fact, it may already be on the way. You just don’t know it yet.

There’s more comedy in failure than in success, and it’s a much more universal language.

It’s an accomplishment to do something well, but maybe even a bigger one to do something well when you’d really rather not be doing it at all.

I’ve learned that it’s always nice to be invited to a party; there’s just no way to know ahead of time what the party will be like.

There’s no way to know if the time you’re spending will someday prove to be time you spent paying your dues or time you spent fooling yourself.

“Just give me something,” she’d say. “Don’t worry too much. If you hit a rough patch, skip over it. You can go back and make it perfect later, but first you need a draft. I can’t edit a blank page.” Eventually I learned that, in the beginning at least, it was better for me to be finished than to try to be perfect. I had to get out of my own way.

“I know I’ll get them done; I just really wish I had a less painful process.”

Sometimes the idea of doing something is the most fun part, and after you go through with it, you feel deflated because you realize you’re back to looking for the next thrill. Often, waiting reveals the truth about something, and not responding to your every impulse can save you the heartache of waking up in the morning with a sense of regret

Spend some time with just yourself and your thoughts and nothing to do. How else will you learn who you are?

doesn’t it make life so much smaller? If absolutely everything important is only happening on such a small screen, isn’t that a shame?

It was exactly what I wanted, and nothing resembling what I’d described.