I’m a maxed-out newbie, but I have a stack of postcards to send out when I can. I just thought of something I want to explain about the place depicted on one of them. But since I haven’t received any cards yet, I don’t know if it’s better to personalize them somewhat. I’m thinking I might start writing my message, but then leave some blank space towards the bottom in case I decide to personalize it later. Do any of you guys start writing before you can send them?
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No, I don’t write them before I have drawn a new address, BUT I do have bits saved about cards I regularly send. Stories or facts about a particular place I’ll use again along with any comments specific to that person or to mutual interests we might have - that can help you a bit with your postcard workload. You’ll enjoy it more over the long haul if you can make them more personalized as you have time.
The other thing you can do is not ask for an address until you actually have time to write & send it - lots of people do that as most people have busy lives eh? It’s okay to take your time. And remember this is supposed to be fun, so relax a bit & you’ll be fine.
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I don’t start writing any postcards until I know to whom I’m writing. And I generally only pull addresses when I actually have a chunk of time available to write. This hobby isn’t a particularly efficient one and I don’t think it’s going to make it any better if I have postcards pre-written. It’s one of the few things where I enjoy the slowness of it all. Because the rest of my life is pretty much go-go-go.
Then again, everyone has their own way of writing postcards and you should do it with whatever way you feel most comfortable with.
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The only thing I include on a card before I find out who it is going to is the Round Robin Name/Tag Name/Postcode. This information is small enough I can fit it in spaces that do not have an effect on my personalized message.
Have you considered playing a game in the forums? The Games and Activites has plenty of opportunities to share your postcard stash with others while you wait for the turn around time on the traditional PostCrossing exchange.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I actually like the limits, though, as they keep me from spending a lot of time and money at once.
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I am newbie too. My first 5 messages are very short. But they are individual anyway- one of them even in Russian (because it goes to Russia).
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No, I don’t write them before I know who will get it. But when I’m in the mood for preparing some of them, I decorate them (matching to the picture, theme or the colour on the front) 
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Haha! I wish I had self-actualized this before I started. But it’s good you give yourself limits. Maybe send a few random cards to some friends who would enjoy receiving one? That’s actually how I got started and it brightened their day so much.
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I did just that this summer! I sent about four cards to friends who were all so pleased that they wrote back to me. Thank you for reminding me of this happy memory.
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No, I would actually prefer to customise or personalise my messafe to the profile that I draw. What I write is based on my mood too. I might talk about the weather one day because it was raining heavily and disrupted my plans, or I might write about my long day at work. For me, I like to get things off my chest and writing postcards is one way to do so.
I do have friends who will pre-write the entire postcard with a generic message, but as much as I don’t follow their ways, to each his/her own I guess. 
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I don’t do this. I could see the value if you had a really interesting fact about the image on the card that you would usually share, and you really needed to save time, but Murphys Law, if you did this, it would turn out to be a profile of someone you had something really unusual in common with that you would rather talk about.
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Haha me too! I am spending way too much but it is bringing me joy so 
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I never thought about doing that because I prefer to make the message relate to what they shared about themselves on their profiles. I try my best to suit their interests with the cards I have on hand. Part of the fun is trying to make someone happy with the card so they’ll want to keep it.
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Maybe a post-it with a note on the/next to the card makes you remember the fact you wanted to explain.
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When I started (and later re-started) Postcrossing, I was thinking of increasing my efficacy of writing postcards. I also made the mistake to immediately draw all addresses I could, which put me into pressure to get those cards written and mailed quickly. I soon noticed that that in itself was a) inefficient and b) taking away the fun and making it another chore instead.
For my favorite view card from Frankfurt am Main I have pre-written texts. If the recipient is interested in history, I write about Paulskirche (St. Pauls church), the location of Germany’s first parliament in 1848. Those more interested in the present may get that Frankfurt has 17 of the 18 German skyscrapers, or that it’s a major banking, commerce and internet hub. I only have this one card as a favorite, if it doesn’t match the requests from the profile I draw, I search for a postcard for that person specifically, so no chance I could pre-write text for a card I have no idea what it will show until after I have read the profile.
Now I only draw one address, then read the profile, select a card and a stamp based on the profile (say they like castles and animals native to my country, they’ll get a castle card from the area around Frankfurt and an animal stamp), attach the stamps first (I try to use multiple stamps if the profile says they like stamps, and that reduces the space on the card), place the airmail/priority sticker, then write the text on the card, based on what the Porstcrosser writes in the profile, and last write the address (I only prnt addresses if it is in a non-Latin alphabet, as I cannot write these by hand). The reason I write the address last is that I’m right-handed, so if I write the address first, my hand would be on the address when I write the text, and that might smudge the address if the ink isn’t totally dry yet (I use a ballpoint pen, so the ink dries slowly). If you are left-handed, you may want to write the address first and the message afterwards.
Only when one postcard is ready to be mailed I ask myself if I’m in the mood to draw the next address.
I participate in many RRs, and there I often meet the same persons. So I do sometimes buy postcards based on those regular’s requests, but I only start writing them once I’m actually sending the card for the RR, because I always first re-check their collection if they got that card already in the meantime. In that case the card goes into my general Postcrossing stack. 
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I am writing some new year cards before I know who I am sending them to because I know I will get some address that include new year card in their wishes.
i don’t write cards in advance, i also think it takes the fun away the moment you request an address. you’re all happy to find the perfect card and write something nice and everything and then the card is already finished, nothing left to do.
i don’t even decorate cards beforehand because i always write the address first so i know where i can put the washitape and the stickers.
eta i was gonna say something about post its being a good idea but i see something went wrong. so that.
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I also wait to write and decorate the card until I have drawn the address, because usually I try to match several things on the user’s profile. So, for example, if they love winter, geocaching, and dogs, I might select a winter postcard and then use dog stickers and washi tape with compasses on it. If I decorated everything beforehand, that wouldn’t be possible. There are exceptions – a card I bought in the Faroes that I have “decorated” with a leftover stamp from my visit there comes immediately to mind – but for the most part I wait so that the back side of my card can be as personal a possible.
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I just draw something on the corner of every card when i have the motivation. ( ◜‿◝ ) But for actual messages, i leave them blank for a person. Who knows what they want to know about me?
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I don’t. I always try to personalise my cards based on the person receiving it!