Letter writing advice?

I have two new penpals!
Yay!

Anyway, I have to write to them first.
But uh.. I'm not good at writing letters.

What do I talk about?
How do I start off?

(I've never had to write a letter to someone FIRST. Usualy I have them write to me.)

1. Take a paper and write in a list all the things you want to say to your friend.
2. On another paper, try writing the letter and read it: change the things that you don't like and correct all the errors.
3. Take the real letter paper,and copy it from the paper of step 2.
4. Put the letter in the envelope with some photos or pictures you want to send.
5. Close the envelope tightly and add your address (upper left corner) and the address of your friend (center). Stick the stamps on and send the letter!

Tips:
* If you have stationery, use it; your letter will be more pretty and colorful (you can print some from the web).
* Don't write too many things,and keep calm!
* Being pretty and gentle is the key to success!
* Ask questions to your friend about his/her country: the conversations will be more interesting!
* If your penpal lives far away, you may need special stamps. Check it out at the post office.

Wow, penpals are still something, even in this high tech world of instant messaging and cell phone texting? That's pretty awesome. I used to love penpals when I was younger.

Tell them about the area you live in - about your family and pets, what you like to do in your spare time, and ask them as many questions as you can about the country they live in. Send postcards too of your lovely state.

Tell them about the subjects you take at school, and some funny things about teachers... and then as time goes on (What country are they in?) ask them to teach you some words in their language

Have fun with it.

All of the advice you've gotten, so far, is great! I agree with them. I just want to add something. Letter writing can be tough because you may not know much about the other person.
Try not to just write about yourself too much but if you do, make sure it's positive stuff, not any problems (in the beginning anyway). As the others said, ask them questions. When you're done, read it as if you were that other person and make sure you don't have any misspellings.

tell them what this says your not good at writing letters and then talk about who you are and maybe what you do on a daily basis or write them a letter asking them to write the first letter