Writing the best introductory letter, ever.

[Teddy KGB]

So, this should get some good debate going... what would (or did) you put into your introductory letter? I want to put something together that is well written, to the point, and isn't excessively boastful. I'm an IT/Engineering person, so I am not the best at "selling myself" as some others.

so...
talk about yourself?
talk about what you want?
talk about nothing at all (which seems to be what plenty of girls do in their intro letters, lol)?
talk about love (oh hell no)?
Should I mention that I will be coming to the UKR this spring? (I'll be narrowing my search to Ukraine now, I've decided)

Help me out here...

[SANDRO43]

So, this should get some good debate going... what would (or did) you put into your introductory letter? I want to put something together that is well written, to the point, and isn't excessively boastful. I'm an IT/Engineering person, so I am not the best at "selling myself" as some others.

Maybe you shoudn't try to "sell yourself", particularly if that's foreign to your nature . I'm not an expert, but I'd say:

"talk about yourself?" Definitely, how else is she going to understand something of what you are ? Do it concisely and unpretentiously, but clearly.
"talk about what you want?" Ditto, serves to set the record straight from the beginning.
"talk about nothing at all ?" Unwise initially, you may pass for an empty chatterbox. Maybe add some humour, if you can.
"talk about love (oh hell no)?" Ditto.
"Should I mention that I will be coming to the UKR this spring?" It was mentioned that it may be a deterrent for some scammers.

About half-a-page should do, not unlike a CV when you apply for a new job .

[Teddy KGB]

Uh oh... my CV (resume) is three full pages long, no fluff.  

[Serebro]

I like this thread, what a pity I deleted most of the funny introductory letters that men wrote to me

Should I mention that I will be coming to the UKR this spring? (I'll be narrowing my search to Ukraine now, I've decided)

Help me out here...

aha, write this and all women will know that you are going on a  tour and she will be one of 100 girls you are going to see.

remember: you are making the trip because of the lady, not meet the lady because she lives on the way from one town to another so you will find a couple of minutes to see her

[Daveman]

I like to keep my intro letter short, informative, and straight to the point. Mine goes like this..

Dear <Name>
WOW!! YOU are SMOKIN' HOT!!! I'd LOVE to be lost in THAT cleavage! Don't send in a search party, I'll live off the land!  WHEWooooooWEEEEEE!!! Send me a letter Baybay!!
Your future Studmuffin..


So far they've all been playing "hard to get", but that's okay, I can handle it. 

[Teddy KGB]

. . . 

[BillyB]

Teddy,

A good letter is less than a page long and is not designed to attract every woman out there but to filter out some you have no business wasting your time with. Be clear about who you are and attach a few good photos of yourself but not your best  otherwise it starts going downhill based on the next few photos you send. I send a few photos in each letter so a woman can get a visual on who's writing her. Also downsize your photos so it won't take so long for her to see it as the internet is slow over there.

Here's a thread I wrote about a monsterous letter campaign of mine. Target lots of ladies and hopefully you'll find a special gem out of the lot who also thinks of you as the same.

http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=1303.0

[SANDRO43]

aha, write this and all women will know that you are going on a tour and she will be one of 100 girls you are going to see.

Not necessarily Sere, he might always say he's visiting for sex tourism and/or business .

[Serebro]

Not necessarily Sere, he might always say he's visiting for sex tourism and/or business .

oh, yes!!!!

A good letter is less than a page long and is not designed to attract every woman out there

I agree, try to mention something from her her profile and ask her to tell more about it.
2-3 photos of youself that show not only you but the things around you(not the house or cars, etc), but something connected with your hobbies, interests,for example you in some national park, you fishing(with the fish), etc...don't send the photos of yourself with other women(even if these women are your friends, colleagues, etc)or photos taken in the FSU.

[SANDRO43]

try to mention something from her her profile and ask her to tell more about it.

Good point, you should say SOMETHING about why you're writing to her, of all people.

YOU are SMOKIN' HOT!!! I'd LOVE to be lost in THAT cleavage!

But maybe not EVERYTHING .

[2tallbill]

oh, yes!!!! :DI agree, try to mention something from her her profile and ask her to tell more about it.
2-3 photos of youself that show not only you but the things around you(not the house or cars, etc), but something connected with your hobbies, interests,for example you in some national park, you fishing(with the fish), etc...don't send the photos of yourself with other women(even if these women are your friends, colleagues, etc)or photos taken in the FSU.

Good advice!

Like a resume you want to personalize it to the person you write it to. Yes it's fine to have a base letter
as a reference but if you write the letter specifically to the person they will be more likely to respond to
it. If you can find a way to add a short humorous anecdote it will even be better.

Example: She says she likes to go to the gym. I might tell her briefly about accidentally sticking my head into a ceiling fan when I got on a stair-master at Gold's.

Just my two kopecks........


Bill

[catzenmouse]

Daveman you write one heck of a sofistificated letter!

Mine weren't that good, something like this (it was before I got me that high falootin book lernin'):

 Yure Purty! Ma and me need somun to help wif da dishes. I gots me a dubblewide. Lets git hiched.

Yure New Man.

P. S. I bin divursed frum my cusin for almust 2 weeks now.

[2tallbill]

Daveman you write one heck of a sofistificated letter!

Mine weren't that good, something like this (it was before I got me that high falootin book lernin'):

 Yure Purty! Ma and me need somun to help wif da dishes. I gots me a dubblewide. Lets git hiched.

Yure New Man.

P. S. I bin divursed frum my cusin for almust 2 weeks now.

 

[SANDRO43]

OK, let's disregard the hominy clowns and hammer out a tentative draft, and our RW friends may tell us if it could produce a positive impression or not. For simplicity's sake, let's assume that the addressee is single without children.  Here's my proposal:


Hello W,

My name is Teddy, I am an X y.o. man living in (...), USA and working there as Information Technology engineer. I like/love my job (if appropriate) and live comfortably as a single man, but I would much prefer to share my life with a type of woman that is no longer easily found here in America.

This is why I decided to look into the world of international dating, and noticed your profile on the (...) dating site. You share my intention of finding a foreign partner, and I liked your (adjective) expression in your photos (and anything else you care to mention, but not too much). I can also see that we share some interests, such as (... here you can try some light humour).

I am writing to you to see if you would like to explore the possibilities of a mutual friendship, which might develop into something more serious if we should really like each other. I am planning to visit Ukraine in the month of (...), and this could give us the opportunity of meeting personally, and verifying directly what we have in common.

I am attaching a few photos of myself in/at (explain, or refer to your profile photos, if you have one there; you could also mention here the attractions of your location, if any).

I look forward to receiving a reply from you, positive or negative though it may be.

Bye for now from Teddy.

[Daveman]

Daveman you write one heck of a sofistificated letter!

Mine weren't that good, something like this (it was before I got me that high falootin book lernin'):

 Yure Purty! Ma and me need somun to help wif da dishes. I gots me a dubblewide. Lets git hiched.

Yure New Man.

P. S. I bin divursed frum my cusin for almust 2 weeks now.

 

Yawnee pawneemawyew vaws y'all ... sheesh, we've died and gone to Hee Haw


Okay, okay, last comment and I'll quit playing in the thread... Ken, we gotta start a country band, or a comedy act, or something because Hominy Clowns is just too great of a name to let go to waste!


As for the draft. I would suggest following "the interests, such as" line with one or two short paragraphs which mention something specific she's stated in the profile which would give the intro letter a little POP..

.... some interests, such as tennis, travel, etc.

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts about soul mates being best friends. I think this is extremely important and I am glad we share this value in a partner.

maybe add this line in the draft for (...profile specific expansion of catch phrases)

[acrzybear]

Darn Sandro

 That is a good letter, could you do one for me?  Mine goes something like this;


  Hello my name is acrzybear and I live in the woods in the United States.  It is January 19, 2007, 0200 hours.  I am a adult male brown bear/8'5" (when standing on hind legs) short brown hair/brown eyes/880lbs/no visible ear tags or distinguishing features.

  I am writing to you because you fit the description of what I am looking for-5'5"-6'/shoulder length hair/slim to slender build and feminine looks.

Please write before the hunting season starts
thank you

  Sandro just kidding, I could never be as eloquent as you.  I have been told that my writing tends to remind people of a text book or a report-just the facts ma'am.

  My serious suggestion is to write a general letter similar to Sandro's template, then go back and tailor it to each woman specifically.

  If you saw a photograph, was there something that caught your attention (other then her chest?).

 Have you visited other countries?

  If you visited her country what did you see or like about it (do not get negative-people get very defensive about their countries-they can talk bad about it-but you can't)

 I would be very careful with humor at first, the problem I have found is something that might be funny in your country could be taken another way on a foreign land (thank god for an excellent interpeter for gettin me out of that mess) and you could be deep sixed before you even get off land.

  Just keep the letter light hearted, honest and no more then 1/2-3/4 page.  You are not proposing-only introducing yourself.  

  The most important thing I can stress when writing or visiting-Just be yourself,  (this could be a problem if you do not have manners and such) since your personality will surface eventually.
 
  

[Shadow]

My first letter would be kind of short, and personal for each woman, reflecting how I read her profile and my mood of the day.

Keep it short, as basicly there is only one question.
I read your profile and liked ......
Please look at mine and reply when you are interested.
The best way to get to know each other is by asking questions, if you want to know more about me, ask.

No need to repeat what is already there for everyone to read is there ? On reply ask some questions, and be sure to ask some original ones that you could not read in her profile, or that go in to specific things of her profile.

[timothe]

Whatever you do, use correct grammar and spell check.  A percentage of the women you write to will use a translator program (http://www.translate.ru) to read your letter.  They won't be able to understand misspellings.

Others will judge you on your ability to put two sentences together into meaningful dialogue and if the lady gets a lot of letters, she will cull you out if she gets the first impression that you are a neandrathal. 

[SANDRO43]

Whatever you do, use correct grammar and spell check... you are a neandrathal

And, be careful of finger checks .

[SANDRO43]

The most important thing I can stress when writing or visiting-Just be yourself

And, be honest.

We have a proverb Le bugie hanno le gambe corte (lies have short legs), meaning: don't expect to run too far on them .

[SANDRO43]

I am a adult male brown bear/8'5" ... I am looking for-5'5"-6'

A small point: use metrics rather than body parts and other weird units of measure, it's irritating having to convert them to figure out if you're a bear or a chipmunk .

[Shadow]

A small point: use metrics rather than body parts and other weird units of measure, it's irritating having to convert them to figure out if you're a bear or a chipmunk .

Just converted it and I think that the bear kind of overstated his height there.. I know he is not a small guy but 8'5" puts him in the range of the tallest living man....

[catzenmouse]

Ken, we gotta start a country band, or a comedy act, or something because Hominy Clowns is just too great of a name to let go to waste!

People do tell me I'm funny.... looking. Blue Collar Comedy Tour here we come!

  My serious suggestion is to write a general letter similar to Sandro's template, then go back and tailor it to each woman specifically.

  If you visited her country what did you see or like about it (do not get negative-people get very defensive about their countries-they can talk bad about it-but you can't)

 I would be very careful with humor at first, the problem I have found is something that might be funny in your country could be taken another way on a foreign land (thank god for an excellent interpeter for gettin me out of that mess) and you could be deep sixed before you even get off land.

  Just keep the letter light hearted, honest and no more then 1/2-3/4 page.  You are not proposing-only introducing yourself. 

  The most important thing I can stress when writing or visiting-Just be yourself,  (this could be a problem if you do not have manners and such) since your personality will surface eventually.

Good thoughts Bear! For an intro letter it is good to have a paragraph or two of basic information about yourself then tailor the rest of the letter to her profile.

Whatever you do, use correct grammar and spell check.  A percentage of the women you write to will use a translator program (http://www.translate.ru) to read your letter.  They won't be able to understand misspellings.

Keep your words fairly simple. Do some translation/reverse translation yourself. You'll be mighty surprised at how some of the things we normally write come out as complete gibberish.

And, be honest.

Can't stress that one enough. What do you expect the outcome to be if you build a house on lies?

This isn't rocket science but it also isn't for John Boy Billy Bob either. You better have your $hit together to begin with before jumping into the deep end of the pool.

No truer words were said than: FSUW are NOT for entry level dating.

Ken

We have a proverb Le bugie hanno le gambe corte (lies have short legs), meaning: don't expect to run too far on them .

[acrzybear]

Just converted it and I think that the bear kind of overstated his height there.. I know he is not a small guy but 8'5" puts him in the range of the tallest living man....

 Actually I'm only 6'5", but was trying to be humurous and described an average sized bear.

A small point: use metrics rather than body parts and other weird units of measure, it's irritating having to convert them to figure out if you're a bear or a chipmunk .

  Been called many things, but chipmunk is a first

[AnastassiaAsh]

Here are some things that i definitely recommend to ask a woman in your intro letter or first two or three letters. These questions are essential and can narrow the number of your women who will reply, but you wouldn't want to correspond with others who are just offended or don't know how to answer.

1. Why do you wish to correspond and eventually marry a foreigner and specifically someone from America?
2. If you find your ideal man, are you prepared to leave your country, your friends, your family, your job and way of life and start a new life in his country and work hard to adapt to the changes in culture and language?
3.What are some of the characteristics you look for in a husband?
4.What are some goals that you have that you would like to accomplish? Would you like to work in the US?
5.What is something that you are passionate about?

Also mention the following:
Why you decided to pursue Russian women….

Your family…

Do you have children? Do you want more children? Are woman's kid(s) ok for you?

Your work…. will your future wife have to work or not?

Qualities of a wife for you…

Are you planning to visit? When approximately/ in general?

And another thing, if you letter is more than a page long, it is ok, but better keep it 1 and 1/2 or less. 
Close up good quality pictures at first are good, later send her pictures of you in your home, or outside in your town/city, you at work (very important for me), you with your relatives maybe....(don't send a pictures of you in or near your car)