The Janitor Journals

The Janitor Journals are the second part of a two-part serial novel. Its chapters are published here on the DIY Scholar website once a week until the end of the series, which is projected to run between twelve and fifteen weeks. After a brief recess, the prequel, titled Cap and Gown, Mop and Bucket, will be published in the same format. The events and characters of the novel, it goes without saying, are fictional, and any resemblance to people and places of the empirical world is purely coincidental.

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The project operates according to a strict policy of “no turning back.” In other words, I write the texts, give them a quick readthrough, correct the typos, pat them on their diapers, and send them on their way. Then it's on to the next one. No slowing down or looking back.  It’s true that, in the past, much of my writing did not survive the editing phase, which has always been the most dreaded part of the writing process, a field day for my superego, armed to the teeth and eager to discharge all its cruelty and aggression, the real reason, these days, is more mundane: I simply don’t have the time. I write these texts on the run, on the fringes of my routine, after my day job, in the off hours, in the breakroom or on public transportation or in the quiet of the night when the rest of the house is sleeping. As such, they have none of the sleek finish and clever packaging of commercial literature and all the dents and scrapes and crinkles and anomalies of homemade artifacts. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether this makes them more or less endearing.