Talk to me about the Mounties?
Welcome to my rabbit hole.
Hello new friends!
Today, my first magazine feature and cover story is out in the digital world. When my copy of The Walrus arrived two weeks ago, I spent a long time flipping through the pages, soaking in the feeling of seeing my words back in print: glossy and satisfying.
“Can the RCMP Be Saved?” is different from any reporting I’ve done so far on the Mounties. I made the colossally boneheaded decision nearly a year ago to write a magazine feature about the RCMP as I rushed to finish a first draft of a book about the RCMP. I rationalized doing the two undertakings simultaneously since they were about the same topic. How hard could it be?
Very hard, it turns out. I was in the middle of writing courtroom scenes from the 1930s for For the Good of the Force and then suddenly I was fielding questions from my Walrus editor about the 21st-century RCMP that felt impossible to summarize into nuanced, coherent answers. How could I know so much but also feel like I knew so little?
During one conversation, my editor interrupted me to tell me to start recording our call. I was telling her what she wanted to know in first draft-esque words, but I had some sort of mental block and none of it had been conveyed into the actual draft.
That block sparked one of the most intense self-doubt crises of my career. It was two shitty, shitty months of overthinking. I leaned hard on my sources, double-checking and triple-checking my interpretation of events against their own more academic and policing understandings. I started to record myself constantly, in these muffled tapings in which I would test out descriptions, trial wordings, and argue with myself about whether or not I was being fair.
I am. I can see that now.
Going through that personal process is what makes this magazine piece feel so different for me. It felt like it spiralled me into a crisis from which I got better at explaining myself. That process reminded me that for my writing to resonate with people they have to understand it, that I need to be mindful of how much context I hold in my head and assume my readers have. It reminded me that I need to constantly be reevaluating how I write and which words I use, the points I fixate on versus the ones I leave on the cutting room floor.
In “Can the RCMP Be Saved?” I think I come the closest I have yet to explaining the structure within which Mounties operate and within which Canadians view their actions. I still have a ways to go. I’m chasing something I hope a 90,000 word book might finally convey.
I’m hoping this newsletter and whatever conversations it sparks will help, too.
How do I envision this newsletter? My intent is to send For The Good Of out twice a month. One update will be more personal, focusing on what I’m working on, any new publications and events, the best of what I’ve been reading lately, and whatever scatterbrained thoughts I have that week on whatever stage of book-editing I am in (currently: gearing up to write the last few chapters!).
The second update will be about the RCMP. Depending on the news of the month, I'll share some of the major headlines and the ways in which they (often) replicate past Mountie failures. I'll share some of my more interesting historical discoveries and, where applicable, a bit about my research, reporting, and writing process.
If you have questions, I'll do my best to answer them in the comments. If you have suggestions, I’ll lap them up. I see this newsletter as a vehicle for more casual, ongoing conversations with people who are as interested as I am in one of the world’s most famous police forces, and what their symbolism means for Canadians and policing reform.
Thank you for coming on this journey with me,
Jane