Since we Canadians have a reputation for being more introverted than our American neighbours, I can’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate our nation’s birthday than by spending some time enjoying a great Canadian book.

There is no shortage of titles to choose from, but here are a few that I’ve enjoyed, including some that you may not have heard of before.

Before Green Gables

Originally published in 1908, Anne of Green Gables is one of the bestselling Canadian books of all time. Even if you haven’t read it, you’re probably familiar with its imaginative red-haired heroine, as the book has inspired movies and TV mini-series, as well as a musical stage play.

What you may not have heard is that the heirs of author L.M. Montgomery asked Budge Wilson to write a prequel to tell the story of Anne’s life before she was adopted by the Cuthberts. I received a copy as a gift a couple of years ago, and I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about reading it. After all, Anne of Green Gables was my very favourite book when I was growing up, and I’ve read the entire series multiple times (with the exception of The Blythes Are Quoted, which I’ve just learned about), so I know Anne nearly as well as I know myself.

Much to my delight, Budge Wilson did an amazing job, both in her writing style and content, of convincing me that this was “the real deal.” In fact, several times I found myself nodding in delight to discover the stories behind the stories that I know and love so well.

If you’re a fan of Anne of Green Gables, you will not want to miss Before Green Gables.

Marie-Claire

I suspect that you’ve read Red is Best, by Kathy Stinson, either as a child or to your own children, but are you familiar with Kathy’s Marie-Claire books, written as part of the Our Canadian Girl series? If not, or if you haven’t read the whole series, you are in luck, because Penguin has recently published all four novels in one volume. It’s a great glimpse at life in Montreal in the 1880s that’s suitable for readers aged 8 and up.

Jalna

As a teenager, I thoroughly enjoyed Mazo de la Roche’s story of a Canadian family over a 100-year period, the Whiteoak Chronicles. Unless you’re prepared to commit to reading all 16 volumes, I don’t recommend reading Building of Jalna first, even though it is the beginning of the saga. You are probably better off starting with Jalna, which was the first one published, in 1927. Then, if you like it, you can go back and read all the sequels and prequels in the order that they take place, from Building of Jalna to Centenary at Jalna.

In case you’re wondering, Jalna is the name of the Whiteoaks family’s home, named for the place in India where Captain Philip Whiteoaks had been stationed.

Do you prefer non-fiction? I’ve got some suggestions for you too!

Organizing Outside the Box

If you’d like to be more organized, or you provide organizing services to others, I highly recommend this award-winning book from Hellen Buttigieg, who is possibly Canada’s best-known organizing expert. It begins with tips to help you assess whether you or your client is a visual, kinesthetic, or auditory learner, and offers strategies for each of the three learning styles, including photos of suggested products. It even includes recommendations for handling those tricky situations when people with different learning styles share space at home or at work!

Photography for the Joy of It

I love photography, and although I don’t have as much time for it as I used to, I’ve read a lot of photography books of all kinds. Many were practical manuals that explained technical terms like f-stop and focal length, things that are useful to know, but not exciting to read about. The books I found most inspiring were those that taught me to see pictures in the world around me, and many of my favourites were written by Freeman Patterson. With today’s highly automated cameras, although it can still be helpful, it is no longer essential to understand the technical side of photography, but books like Photography for the Joy of It will always be needed and appreciated by photographers at all levels.

If you’re curious about what I’ve been reading lately, check out My Recent Reads widget at the bottom of my Lifestream page.

What are your favourite Canadian books? I would love to know!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Five Ways to Celebrate Canada Day.

It is often said that certain events, celebrity deaths in particular, come in threes, and today I’m going to confirm that by sharing three pieces of good news with you. The first two are admittedly shameless self-promotion, but do read on, because the third one is good news for YOU!

First of all, my post Landing the Big Fish, or the most unusual way I’ve found a client, was awarded the Virtual Assistant Forums Monthly Blogging Challenge for May. I won a copy of Social Media Marketing an Hour a Day, and look forward to reading it soon.

Do you have a Google alert set up on your name? (If not, you should!) I do, and that’s how I learned that I made the list of Best Virtual Assistant Services on David Jackson’s Free Marketing Tips Blog. This isn’t a list of 50 or 100, mind you, but only FIVE carefully selected VAs. I owe a big thank you to my clients who not only took the time to write testimonials for me, but also responded to David’s email follow-up earlier this year.

And now as promised, the good news for you! I realize that I blog a lot, and it may be hard for readers to keep up at times, so I’ve streamlined a few things. All new posts that are published either here or on my other blog, Your Organizing Business, now appear on the Organized Assistant page on Facebook. Just click on the “Like” button to become a fan, if you’re not one already. Prefer email? No problem! You can now join my mailing list and receive an email every Friday that includes all my posts for the week. From time to time I may send out special mailings, so be sure to indicate if you’re interested in Southern Ontario Events and/or Resources for Professional Organizers.

That’s my good news for the week! What’s going on with you?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Good News Comes in Threes!.

What an awesome party! The celebration was made even greater by seeing Canada break the world’s record for Olympic gold medals. Woo hoo!

Thanks to everyone who dropped in, especially those of you who took time to participate in the Trivia Challenge.

Here’s a recap of the questions, along with the correct answers:

1. What is the name of the networking group I run for local virtual assistants?

Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistants Group – mentioned in A Few More Minutes of Fame and Glory and Happy New Year 2009

2. When did I last attend a POC Conference?

2006 – mentioned in FoVA 2009 in Review

3. According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, what is my personality type?

ISTJ – mentioned in Is it Time to Revise YOUR Work Schedule? and How I Became a Virtual Assistant

In the spirit of the Olympics, I’ve decided to award not just one prize, but three.

The gold medal goes to Jacki Hollywood Brown, the first person to answer all the questions correctly. Jacki is eligible to receive a prize of her choice from my Products page. Congratulations, Jacki!

The silver medal goes to Julie Bestry, who also got all the correct answers. Julie is eligible to receive a prize of her choice from my Products page, with a maximum value of $24.95.

The bronze medal goes to Ross Dodwell, who got two out of three answers correct. Ross is eligible to receive a prize of his choice from my Products page, with a maximum value of $9.99.

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks again to everyone else who played along.

I’m having another special event here later this month, with even more prizes. Make sure that you get all the details by following me on Twitter, subscribing to my blog by email, or adding it to your RSS reader!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on After the Party.

Today is my birthday, but I’ve had lots of those, and hope to have many more, so it’s really not a big deal. On the other hand, it also happens to be the anniversary of two major milestones in my life. It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 20 years since I moved to this city to start a new life with the man who is now my husband and business partner, and 5 years since I left the world of paid employment to work in my business full time.

I’m so excited that I decided to have a blog party, and I’m glad you were able to stop by. I hope you brought your own food and drinks though, because that’s one thing I haven’t figured out how to do virtually.

It wouldn’t be much of a party without games, so I’ve decided to have a Trivia Challenge. Below are three questions All About Me (it is my party, after all!). All the answers can be found on my blog fairly easily, so if it’s your first time here, you have just as much chance of winning as people who have known me for years.

The first person to get them all right will receive a prize of their choice from my Products page. You have until Monday morning at 6:00 AM EST to play. The correct answers – and the winner – will be announced here on Monday.

Are you ready to play? Here are the questions:

1. What is the name of the networking group I run for local virtual assistants?

2. When did I last attend a POC Conference?

3. According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, what is my personality type?

Have fun!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Triple Celebration Blog Party.

What are you doing tomorrow? Would you like to come to a party?

Don’t worry; it’s not the type of party where you have to dress up or worry about driving home safely. It’s a blog party, and it’s happening right here!

I don’t want to spoil the surprise by telling you all about it now, but there will be a game, with a prize for the winner!

The party will run all weekend, in case you can’t make it on Friday, so please don’t miss it!

I hope you enjoyed today’s picture… as I typed the title of the post, I had this sudden flashback from my childhood. I went to my bookcase and, sure enough, I still have the book! I see that someone else’s name is written in it, so if that person wants it back, she should let me know…

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Will You Come to My Party?.

A few years ago, I did a Law of Attraction exercise where you pretend that it’s a year later, you’ve just bumped into someone you haven’t seen in quite a while, and you tell them all about the past year. At the end of the year, I found that nearly everything I’d written came to pass, so I decided to try it again last year. This time I typed it out, added photos illustrating the things I wrote about, printed it, and put it in a picture frame where I would see it every day. My results weren’t nearly as impressive, and I think I know why.

For starters, it covered too many areas of my life, including business, leisure, and health. Looking at all that at one time was just too overwhelming. Furthermore, because the document was in front of me all the time, I just didn’t see it anymore. I knew it was there and what it was, but instead of motivating me, it made me feel guilty that I wasn’t doing what I set out to do, or annoyed about things that were outside my control.

I realized what was wrong with my approach when I read 2010: The Year of Baby Steps which recommends, among other strategies, setting one resolution per month, instead of trying to change everything all at once. Although I wasn’t necessarily attempting to achieve all my goals at one time, I wasn’t focusing on any of them, so it’s not surprising I didn’t achieve what I had envisioned.

After being inspired by the 31 Days of Self-Care Blog, I decided I would start this year by doing something everyday aside from work and TV/DVD viewing, even if it’s just to get out and walk around the block, or to look for healthy recipes to try. It may not be much, but I think it’s a good starting point, and I know I will benefit. I’m not going to be blogging about my daily progress, because I really don’t think it will interest anyone but myself, but I am making notes in one of the spaces in the weekly planner I ordered from momAgenda.

One of the online tools I’m using to support my efforts to leading a healthier lifestyle is a free membership site website called PICFIT.ca. If you’re looking to lose weight or make other healthy lifestyle changes this year, or if you’re a health professional who would like to get some free exposure by supporting others, you should check it out too!

By the way, my daily something isn’t always health-related, though it often turns out that way. It can be as simple as doing my nails, or as fun as going out for lunch with my dad and my sister. It’s mostly about remembering that there’s more to life than work and watching movies. Don’t get me wrong; I thoroughly enjoy both activities. If I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have to make a point of doing something else! I just don’t want to look back one day and sing this song:

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Making 2010 the Best Year Ever.

This time of year it’s traditional to reflect on our achievements over the past year, while setting the wheels in motion to accomplish even bigger and better things in the new year.

I have to admit that I did not achieve everything I hoped to in my personal life, mainly because I didn’t make it a priority. I realized this while I was reading Alex Fayle’s e-book, I’ll Get Around to It Someday, and the message was reinforced by Kathy Stinson’s blog post, The PIRDY Plan, in which she outlines how she’s going to fit leisure activities into her busy schedule. I haven’t yet figured out which interests I’ll focus on, or when I’ll pursue them, but I am absolutely going to give it more effort than I have in the past. After all,

No one on their deathbed ever says
they wish they had spent more time at the office.

Source Unknown

Professionally, although things didn’t go quite the way I pictured them, I am extremely pleased with the way that things came together. The following seemingly separate events have proven to be not quite as random as they seemed at the time:

1. I used Google to find an answer to a technical issue I was experiencing, which led to my being invited to participate in a blogging course. You can read more about that in The Mysteries of Technology.
2. To complete the course work, I needed to create a specific type of blog. Worried that my current readers might not like me to make major changes, I decided to start a new one. You can read about that in Introducing “Your Organizing Business”.
   
3. Through Twitter and my new blog, I found myself connecting with more and more professional organizers, and closer to my dream of becoming known as THE virtual assistant to successful professional organizers.
4. I created an increasing number of client sites in WordPress, including static websites, blogs, and websites with a built-in blog. You can read about that in Introducing Maestro Quality, A Web Makeover, Introducing More Than Admin, Introducing Great Organizing Books.
5. As I saw the benefits of the combined website and blog and the power of premium WordPress themes, I was starting to feel like a barefooted shoemaker.

Do you see where this is going? If not, take a look at the Organized Assistant website!

I enjoy working with the Flexx Blog Theme so much that I was tempted to use it for this project, but I really wanted a custom design combining features from the old site as well as the original theme for Your Organizing Business. In the past I’ve used a blank open source theme for my custom designs, but I wanted something even more flexible. I’d heard a lot about Thesis and Headway, and after doing a little research, I chose Headway because it allows you to create unique sidebars for different pages of your site. With a brand new logo (thanks to Trudezign Graphics and Marketing) and updated content that reflects our current focus on Internet marketing, I am just beside myself!

What’s next? Hopefully, lots more work with WordPress and Headway, and more clients from the organizing industry.

Aside from that, watch for exciting new changes on this site too!

What does 2010 look like for you? Can I help you make it happen?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Looking Back, Looking Forward.

Small business owners face many challenges when it comes to networking. Some of the most common include deciding which events to attend and which groups to join, creating a powerful self-introduction, learning to deliver that introduction confidently, and initiating conversation with strangers.

I’ve struggled with all of these at different times, but I have another problem: I have a terrible memory when it comes to faces. As a result, until I get to know someone well, when I speak to them, I often can’t remember whether or not we’ve met before. (I will, however, recognize a business card I’ve seen before.)

I was therefore intrigued to learn that the BBC has a Face Memory test on their website. The test consists of three parts: you’re shown 12 photos in the first part, and another 12 photos in the second part. In the third part, you’re shown 48 photos and you have to identify whether you saw them in the first part, the second part, or not at all.

I scored 75% on Recognition, meaning that of the 24 photos I was shown in Parts 1 and 2, I recognized 18 of them. That sounded pretty good until I learned that the average score is 92%.

My temporal memory score was only 55%, meaning that of the 18 photos I recognized, I only remembered where I’d seen 10 of them. The average score is 68%.

It was no surprise to me that my scores were below average, but I was a little disappointed that there was no information to help me make improvements in this area. Apparently the purpose of the test is to see whether you’re getting enough sleep. I don’t really see the connection, but then again, I’m no scientist!

If you’d like to take the Face Memory Test, be sure to allow 15 to 20 minutes.

In the meantime, please let me know if you know any strategies for remembering faces!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Are You Good at Remembering Faces?.

Back in 2007, in response to a comment on one of my blog posts, I said, “I don’t think you can use meme as a verb.”

Barry Zweibel replied, “Sure you can, Janet. You can ‘verbify’ almost anything!!! (Google it, FedEx it, verbify it, ‘Barclay’ it … hmmm I wonder what that last one would mean?!)”

As a lover of words, I was intrigued, and decided I would explore that topic in a future post, but somehow it slipped off my radar until now. Today I’m going to contemplate what it might mean if someone were to say, “he Barclayed it.”

One of the things I take pride in is my ability to locate information. Of course, I have Google to thank, but knowing exactly what words to enter in the search box, and when and where to use apostrophes, has often helped me to find answers to obscure questions and solutions to seemingly impossible situations in minutes, if not seconds. So perhaps to “Barclay it” might refer to quickly and easily tracking down facts and figures, or being resourceful.

Many people have mentioned that I have a very calming presence, so maybe one might say “she Barclayed it” about a woman who stopped someone else from crying or having a panic attack.

On the other hand, maybe “to Barclay it” wouldn’t be a good thing at all. Maybe it means to take a silly idea and run with it until you have a blog post!

I’m curious – what popped into your mind when you read the title of today’s post?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on She Barclayed It!.

In her blog, Beyond the Gray, Erika Liodice writes about men and women who have gone after what they really want in life. A few weeks ago, she approached me and asked if I would like to share my own inspiring story with her readers.

I’d never thought of myself in that way, but I was happy to oblige by answering a few questions, and I’m really glad I did! On days when I’m feeling overworked and underpaid, reading over my interview will definitely help motivate me to continue moving forward, and I hope it will do the same for you!

Read it here: Dream Chaser: Janet Barclay, Entrepreneur.

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Janet as Dream Chaser.