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Post by DJW1066 on Nov 1, 2015 20:32:10 GMT
I've a fairly new pen pal who never writes more than 2/3 of an A5 page. And what's written is very superficial. Yup, that's his entire letter.
I plan to "break-up" with him, but wonder what experiences others might have had with very short-winded pen pals.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2015 1:08:32 GMT
Crikey, that IS a short letter. I've never had one that small. From memory the shortest ones I have had would be two and a half A5 and some recent 5 Question answers that took one and a bit pages of A4.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2015 5:15:58 GMT
Crikey! He could fit all that on a postcard!!! ...I write longer shopping lists!!! Even my short letters tend to be around 3-4 pages so I certainly wouldn't be impressed with a 'letter' like that - it's barely worth the price of the stamp Perhaps he is a 'collector' and has too many penpals to cope with so writes short notes about nothing in particular.
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Post by alc3261 on Nov 2, 2015 14:13:10 GMT
I have one Penpal who does not write much but likes to send quirky cards etc, I have just followed suit and send postcards etc. The people who write very little and stuff of no consequence seem odd to me, why are they bothering at all?
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Post by Mia on Nov 2, 2015 16:57:22 GMT
Off the top of my head, I think I've had 2 rather "shallow" writers. I did wonder why they bothered to write. At least now with the 5 Questions, there is something to write if you are unsure of what to say otherwise.
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Post by skye on Nov 3, 2015 1:32:17 GMT
i have had 2 penpals like that, lets just say we no longer correspond. It is one thing if its a first letter and you arent sure what to say, or even just a quick (short n sweet) missive just saying youre busy, havent forgotten about them but will write a proper one soon. when it becomes the norm more than the exception, that does tend to make it difficult.
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Post by sharmon202 on Nov 5, 2015 16:20:00 GMT
I wonder what is the point of 2/3 page of A5? Would have to be superficial wouldn't it.
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Post by saskiamadding on Nov 6, 2015 0:38:37 GMT
I had a pen pal that talked about literally NOTHING but the weather for three A5 pages for almost a year. It was pretty excruciating. I like to follow suit with whatever a pen pal does - if they like short letters, I give them short letters. IF they like cards, I try to reciprocate. But I'll admit that shallow, short letters seem to me to be somewhat missing the point of snail mail.
Also, in Canada postage is VERY expensive. It's a lot of money to spend on three pages about the weather.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 15:07:09 GMT
Three pages about the weather!!!! Gosh, I know us Brits are obsessed with talking about it but even I rarely do more than mention a line or two if it's been particularly wild or hot etc....certainly never managed to write reams about it
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Post by stormymorning on Nov 6, 2015 15:54:53 GMT
Wow that sounds pretty... well...weather obsessed!
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Post by annavalerious on Jan 7, 2016 10:05:48 GMT
I write very long letters (15-20 A4 pages). When I meet someone new and he/she sends me just a couple of pages written on a small paper, I tell them honestly that I can't build a friendship with such short letters. I agree that prices for stamps are very high (here it's almost 2 Euro to send a 20 g letter overseas)and I'm very picky about this.
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Post by mailartist on Jan 8, 2016 23:22:25 GMT
If the "weather writer" were a meteorologist (or Virginia Woolf, who could spin compelling prose about anything), then three pages might actually be compelling. I don't knock even ordinary topic's ability to be interesting, but it has to be written about in an interesting way. Not everyone can do this.
That being said, I have two thoughts on the short letter people. First, is that every dog deserves two bites. The laconic letter may be an anomaly, reflecting haste, or a headache, or even a verbal dry spell on the writer's part. The question is, will every interchange be like this?
Second, as far as I'm concerned, I'm not looking for busy work, so correspondence has to "work for me" on some level. I have had some very laconic pen pals, but more out of "I just don't know how to do any better" than "I'm lazy" or "I don't want to be your pen pal at all." Some pen pals are quirky, and I'm okay with "quirk" so long as I don't feel I'm spinning hum-drum letters just to spin hum-drum letters. So, correspondence needs to be "going somewhere" for me to justify time/postage, etc. on it. Sometimes I send letters just because I know it brightens the recipient's day.
My approach is always to send back a little more than I received. So I'll respond to a shorter letter with a "short" one, or to a long letter with a "longer" one. But if someone just sends me "Happy Pen Palling!" then I will at least send off a sentence (maybe two, if I'm feeling generous), on a postcard, and put that person's name on an iffy list. If all I get the next time is "Happy Snail Mail!" then I don't feel guilty allowing time and inertia to dwindle it into nonexistence. My approach is to answer everything, but maybe the person's brevity is their way of breaking things off with me, and my responding is just prolonging the agony.
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ieahleen
Crayons
Posts: 21
Looking for Penpals?: Yes. Global penpals welcome
Country I live in is: Italy
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Post by ieahleen on Jan 16, 2016 22:33:18 GMT
I recently started penpalling and I'm finding myself writing longer letters the more I write to a person. So my letters now varies between an A5 if it's an awkward starting to 4-5 A4 sheets after a couple of letters exchanged. I've received one from Australia that was just a postcard tucked in an envelope with a "please speak about yourself" written on it, and if he had my address than he had to see my profile! I have yet to decide if I will answer... Postage rates to Australia are pretty high! It's about 3€... I had no problem till now with sending letters to countries to which I had to spend a bit more but in that case I was answering a letter!
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Post by Mia on Jan 16, 2016 23:06:23 GMT
That is strange.... Postage rates from Australia are also high.
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Post by thatauthor on Jan 17, 2016 3:28:34 GMT
I write very long letters (15-20 A4 pages). When I meet someone new and he/she sends me just a couple of pages written on a small paper, I tell them honestly that I can't build a friendship with such short letters. I agree that prices for stamps are very high (here it's almost 2 Euro to send a 20 g letter overseas)and I'm very picky about this. That's quite a lot. (Is is narrow ruled?) Still, if someone writes me a long letter I'd reciprocate as long as it's not a lot of pages about nothing. If I'm just starting out it's likely 2 pg A5 (or B5 if I have it). I think the most I've written was 10 pg A5 and I felt guilty about that - she already was underwater with her backlog of letters and I felt like I might just be piling on.
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