date, time, tempreture, weather, season, uv index
and if i have space the writing prompt of the month
Me too, whenever possible 
It really depends on the Profile. I Write about Things they mention in their Profile. If the Profile doest tell much I Write about My day, the last cool thing Happend to me, the Book I read, Last Movie I watched, My Cats. And I oftem Write why I choose exactly this Kind of Card.
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Depends on who I’m writing to. Recently, I sent a card to a family, so I took them on a virtual visit to my town to try some of our special foods. Since another card went to a cat, my cats told her about their experience of my vacation. One card went to the town where my aunt used to live, so I told the recipient how much I love their town.
If I’m really, really desperate and can’t think of anything, I tell the receiver that I’ve heard wonderful things about their country and how beautiful it is and hope to visit someday. Since that’s pretty much true of everywhere that’s not super-hot (because I don’t like super-hot weather), it’s not a lie.
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Hello everyone!
I am getting ready to send my first postcard and was wondering what do people like to read on their cards and what kind of things to avoid? I am really excited to get started. Thanks for all your advice. Can’t wait to start receiving postcards!
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Welcome to Postcrossing & the Forum!
You can write about anything you want: something about the card you like, why you chose it - anything about yourself, your interests & hobbies, your job - your favourite books, movies/TV, music - anything about your city, state, country - places you like to visit.
Do you have any common interests with the person you’re sending the card to? Have you visited their country before? Do you want to in the future?
Have fun with it! Enjoy!
P.S. and it helps to fill out your profile - tell us about yourself, your hobbies, work & interests. And if you’re looking for any particular kinds of cards - it can be wide open! Having a profile helps other Postcrossers in choosing cards for you.
Lots of ideas over here - see below & on this thread above you as well:
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Hi everyone!
I am new to postcrossing (both the site and the hobby) and I am really, really lost about one thing: how to start a postcard’s text.
Whenever I write a postcard to an acquintance, it’s not that difficult: the context is already there (a holiday, a trip…) and I know the person and their tastes. But I am completely lost when it comes to sending a postcard to someone I don’t know. I have read the writing prompts and I found some of them really fun, but I just don’t know how to open the text.
What do you usually do? Do you open with “Dear X, // Hope you are doing fantastic!” or some similar formula? Do you go straight forward to telling them about the cute snail you saw the other day? Do you announce the topic/prompt you are using and then go with it (like this: “Prompt: Snails // Dear X, // Hope you are doing great! The other day I saw a snail…”)? And how do you manage to fit it all in the postcard?
Any help, ideas or cues on how you do it will be more than welcomed!
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Hello Lucia! Yes, the phrase you wrote is good.
I typically start with “Hello XY” and follow by telling what is it in the picture or why I chose the postcard or, yes, start telling about the snail straight away. It feels awkward at the begining but it becomes more natural as you write more postcards and also read what others send you 
Unfortunately, the space on a postcard is very limited so I always try to think in advance a bit about what I want to say. I have a better idea about how many sentences I can fit on the postcard now so it is a bit easier to plan but still I sometimes run out of space and don’t say everything I wanted to.
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I usually imagine that the recipient is my good friend. I start the letter like this: Hello, “name”! Greetings from the Moscow region! Than there can be any text. I often write about what is shown on the card or stamps, sometimes about an event in my life, a movie I recently watched or a book I read; something about my country, or just random thoughts. The ability to formulate concisely comes with experience.
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I find it easiest to just jump right in! Sometimes I like to introduce myself and say “Hello! My name is Courtney from Texas, USA” or I say “Hi X, I hope this postcard finds you well! Today I saw xyz!” You have limited writing room so if you like to add an introduction you can, and if not that’s okay too! The beauty of postcrossing is you are making friends all over the world! So I would just write them the way I would a friend
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I like to open mine with Greetings from [my state]/[my country] and write it on the same line as the hi or hello to save space. If a person likes longer messages, I try to make my writing smaller and neater. My normal handwriting can fit a couple sentences on a card, but when I can make my writing smaller, I can fit a few more.
If the prompt is from their profile, I take a cue from my English classes (haha) and briefly restate the prompt. Like “what’s your best memory?” becomes “my best memory was…”
If a person has no prompts, I write about the card, what the card reminds me of, or maybe where I bought it.
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Hi there @MehndiLover, and WELCOME to Postcrossing! 
What a great question! I wondered exactly the same thing when I first started, so I probably was a more intense/formal writer than I am now.
Every single one of your openings works fine
I write openings based on how I read the tone of the profile.
If a Postcrosser has written a profile that speaks to me as if we have found ourselves sitting in a cafe, close to each other, both waiting for a late train to arrive, then I would start more informally, and just jump right in. For example, a Postcrosser likes interesting zoo animalis: “Hi Lucia, I just got back from a trip to the zoo with my grandkids, and we had a great visit with the yak, which just had a baby. So cute, like a black angus calf!” And then, I might tell them about the icecream spot near the zoo that we like to visit.
If a Postcrosser doesn’t write much in their profile, I might start with Hello, write about something that has been inspired by their profile, and then, if room, about the card.
Today, I had a profile where I noticed that the person’s name is the same as their town name. You bet I started with “Hello Dear Keri of Kerry!”
There is so little room on a card, that I never tackle niceties, like “hope you are doing great”.
Basically … my approach tends to be to just JUMP RIGHT IN.
And if there is an upcoming birthday, I offer happy birthday wishes.
Have a great time with this wonderful community!
And if you grow impatient with the slowness of cards coming in - YES, it will be SLOW at first - consider joining some Round Robins for some quicker postcard exchanges, as well as to meet people with shared interests.
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Blockquote
I have a better idea about how many sentences I can fit on the postcard now so it is a bit easier to plan but still I sometimes run out of space and don’t say everything I wanted to.
The “how many lines” is something I struggle a lot with!! I recently sent a huge square postcard and briefly wrote about something the person suggested in his profile (a sentence in my mothertongue with its translation)… and I had to squeeze in the signature because I sure ran out of space! Hopefully I’ll get better at considering the space as I write more and more postcards
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I have tried about writing why I chose the postcard or about what is shown on it, but I just get too much into details 
Maybe I should try doing it with bullet points!! 
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welcome to postcrossing!
i do get what you mean, it does feels a bit weird to say hello, and then straight jump into a story. so i often write something like ‘happy to meet you’ or ‘how are you doing’ or sometimes ‘greetings from my town’. especially if it’s a view card so i can directly start talking about said town.
sometimes when i really connect to a profile i do jump right in, as there’s a lot i want to say. i try to be spontaenous and think about it on the spot.
if it’s something i have in common with the receiver, like cats for example, i say something like ‘i’m sending you this card because i love cats as well’ and then write a bit about my cat.
i’m lucky i can write pretty small, so i can say a lot. though sometimes i don’t have to say much, so i’m halfway and i have no idea what to write anymore. i never really think things through before i start writing.
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The second introduction you’ve written is what I have been using so far, but I like the first one more! Honestly, the idea of thinking about the receiver as a friend is definitely useful. I will try putting it into practice with the next postcard I send!!
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I’ll definitely start the corpus of the postcard on the same line of the greeting, otherwise I just run out of space way too quickly!!
Now that you mentioned a person having no prompts… Do you prefer people having prompts or suggested topics in his profile or is that something that you don’t really mind that much?
You’ll learn it by practicing
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I definitely prefer profiles with prompts because I think prompts show a bit about the person’s personality. I don’t have trouble of thinking of things to write, but I’d love to write something a person is interested in reading (or not, if they don’t care about the message).
Do you think it’s easier whether you have a prompt or not/does it make a difference?
Thank you so much for the welcoming!!
Indeed, I am a VERY formal writer - I’m even a too formal speaker for my country’s standards! It’s a bit problematic when it comes to the postcards, since it makes me run out of space even before I started with the actual topic. Thank goodness I tend to write it on a paper first! Also, skipping niceties will probably be the best for me, at least until I get used to telling an anecdote in 5 lines or less. If there’s anything to congratulate on, it will have to wait until the end of the message!
And thank you so much for the suggestion about Round Robins! I’ll definitely check them out, because I am seeing that “official” postcards are SLOW indeed, specially so with the limited number when you start new!
@mchay
I tend to have a tiny handwriting, specially so if I am trying to fit a lot of text in a limited space, but I still end up having to cut the text short. I have also thought about the option of sending a poem, or a fragment of a poem, or something like that (if the person’s profile makes me feel that they would be pleased with that), specially since translating is one of my hobbies and I enjoy translating previously untranslated poems written in my native tongue, but I still haven’t put that one into practice.
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