Go to my first post,  Welcome To Earnest Words!, and you’ll learn a fair bit about me and maybe even enjoy a laugh or two. Friend me on Facebook and you’ll learn more.

From a business perspective the short synopsis on me  is this: I’m a copywriter and marketing consultant. I help businesses grow by helping them make more effective and profitable use of words. You can read more about my copywriting and marketing services and see samples of my work at http://www.positiveresponse.com.

If you want to know even more, gee, I’m truly flattered. To that end, I’ve reproduced a speech I wrote introducing myself to a Toastmasters club I joined. (In Toastmasters we call this speech The Icebreaker.) I’ve been an active member  of Toastmasters, off and on, for over 20 years and the speech below is my Icebreaker speech to the most recent group I joined. It’s called, I Am A Pencil.

I Am A Pencil: Metaphors, Similes and Symbols

I am a pencil. Solid. Dependable. Uncomplicated. And, I’ve been known to have a pointed opinion, or two. I am a pencil in my professional life because as a Freelance Advertising and Marketing Copywriter I serve as an instrument of communication.

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters and future Toastmasters. Because I’m a creative person and I like to do things a bit differently, today, in giving you a general understanding of who I am, I’m going to rely heavily on metaphors, similes and symbols

For example, I’m like Elvis Presley in a one important way: We’re both Southerners. I was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis, in Tupelo, Mississippi. And, we both grew up in Memphis.

I am Morine Nicastro, my late mom, a beautiful, fun-loving, hard-working, warm and caring woman. And, one of the world’s great cooks.

I am bits and pieces of Sister Mary Pacelli, Sister Mary Simeon, Sister Mary Ernestine, Sister Mary Matthias, Sister Mary Coleman…and all the other good Sisters of Mercy and lay teachers at Blessed Sacrament grade school where I spent eight formative years.

I can still recall my eight grade teacher, Sister Mary Coleman, lecturing the class on the importance of good manners. Telling us that – among other things – “a gentleman always gets the door for a lady.” I took Sister Mary Coleman’s advice to heart, and it paid off. My wife says the fact that I was a “Southern Gentleman” is one of the reasons she fell in love with me.

I am Carlo Pirani, one of my football coaches and teachers at Memphis Catholic High School for Boys.

Like Sister Mary Coleman, coach Pirani also believed in teaching manners, albeit using a different manner of instruction. He’d be in the front of the room lecturing and the next thing you know, while continuing to talk, he’d start backing up, giving everyone the duck sign as he moved. Then, when he got close enough to the chalk board he’d reach back, grab an eraser and fire it off in the direction of someone’s head, bellowing, “Cover that mouth when you yawn son! Don’t you have any manners?”

In all the years since then I don’t think I’ve ever yawned without thinking of Coach Pirani. Or, covering my mouth.

I am ham; more precisely, A Ham. At Blessed Sacrament I starred as the boy Jesus in the school Christmas play. In high school I was Marvin Hudgens in Dark of the Moon. And at Memphis State University I played Olin Potts in The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolias. In Seattle I won the Toastmasters District 2 Humorous Speech Contest with a speech entitled The Triviality of Being Ernest. And over the last three years in Columbus I’ve acted in 7 community theatre productions. I generally like being in front of a crowd. Because, I admit it, I’m a ham.

I am the books that I read. Those books are mainly non-fiction such as biographies on Ben Franklin, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain and most recently, Elvis Presley. I also enjoy historical works such as 1776 and Citizen Soldiers. For business reading, the subject is usually writing and such titles as Words That Work by Dr. Frank Luntz.

I am the music I listen to. If you were to plug your ears into my I-Pod you’d hear an eclectic mix of artists and styles. You’d hear the classical music of Beethoven – and the classic Rock’NRoll of Elvis. You’d hear the legendary blues of B. B. King, the hard-core country twang of George Jones and the Pop Princess sounds of young Sara Bareilles. What you won’t hear from my i-Pod is Gangsta Rap or heavy-metal. No Fifty-Cent. No Megadeth.

Now, a few words about me and you and Toastmasters.

I joined Toastmasters because I want and need the help of my fellow members to become a truly outstanding speaker. And, because I genuinely enjoy helping others develop their speaking skills.

In closing, I’ll repeat my opening: I am a pencil. And you know what? So are you. Because like each of you, each day I get up and do my best to write a favorable account of myself in the book of life. This icebreaker speech is an entry into today’s page.