The Airstream That Ran Away With The Spoon

Buy now on Amazon!

Why does the Airstream run away with a spoon?

People with diseases that cause chronic fatigue often call themselves “spoonies” after the essay The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino. In this essay Ms. Miserandino likens energy to complete your day to a set of spoons. Every activity takes a spoon, and you have to conserve your energy to make it to the end of the day. Not everyone with chronic fatigue prefers this concept, so preferring other metaphors such as a gas tank.

What is the difference between chronic fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression?

“Chronic fatigue” is a symptom of a wide variety of illnesses. Historically “chronic fatigue syndrome” has been chronic fatigue in the absence of an identifiable cause, but it is more often now called “myalgic encephalomyelitis” because chronic fatigue often involves brain inflammation. In chronic fatigue a person often feels engaged with the activities of their life, but simply does not have the energy to complete their tasks. While chronic fatigue can exist with depression or even cause depression, it differentiates from depression in that with depression people often have a sense of feeling disconnected from their projects and goals.

How did you write the book?

I write a ton in my journal, and I was writing throughout the trip discussed in the book. As I wrote, I marked in the margins when I thought the material might be useful for the book. When I was ready to start working on the book in earnest, I typed all that material into broad topic groupings. I then printed it out and identified a set of themes that matched up with stories in chronological order. As you will see in the book, when I have other stories that I wanted to tell in that theme, I mention something that already happened or will happen in the future. I moved my initial notes into those groupings and then re-wrote each chapter top-to-bottom. A few more rounds of editing and, voila, a book.