Famous Who Blog Writer Interview

Life, the Universe and....... Combom....??? What is this I hear you ask? Well, about one year ago I was browsing one of my favourite Doctor Who news Blog and stumbles across a link to Combom’s Blog and I have to say that I have been hooked ever since. With no new series this daily fix of Doctor Who news, trivia and all round fun articles has gone in some way to bridging this “gap” year. After contributing a few articles to the site myself (and Combom has always been kind enough to credit me) I plucked up the courage to approach the enigmatic man himself and ask for an interview. Luckily for me and all you reading this he agreed to share some of his views, thoughts and experiences. What follows has taken place via email exchanges in mid November 2009 and will be posted in 4 parts........

Nick - Hi there Combom, many thanks for giving up your time to speak to me. Firstly I would like to ask you a little bit about your Blog so, when did it all start and what made you decide to start your wonderful Blog also how did you come up with name for it?

Combom - I started the Blog about 18 months ago and, like everyone else does, I had no readers! So my first task was to get readers, so I wrote articles that bigger Blogs may like so they link to me, then got talking to the Blog owner, and then got them to exchange links etc. It is slow at first, the first 6 months are the worst! I didn’t have a "business plan" towards all this, it just happened this way.

Making friends in the "Blog scene" helps too, people like yourself, Fanatical Whovian, Rebecca Wright (an artist who does great who stuff), plus a lot of others, and I exchanged daily email with jess from Planet Gallifrey until she moved on too. I learned a long time ago to always name my sources; it’s no good reporting something massive if no one believes you! The URL is a little different to the Blog name now, it was originally about all kinds of stuff, but its 95% Whoniverse now, I have moved the DVD reviews and photography to new Blogs.

The Blog name is a corruption of a Douglas Adams title, who wrote for Doctor Who by the way and he is worth reading.

Nick - I myself usually have a look at what’s going on in the universe of Combom several times a day and I have to say that there is always so much content on a daily basis. I know that people such as I contribute from time to time but it still must take up a lot of your time as well. How do you manage to fit it all in?

Combom - I don’t do as much as you may think, for example I do all the Doctor Who of the days on a Sunday, and the jigsaws too, then they are auto posted by blogger over the week, a lot of stuff I pre-prepare, such as the recent SJA synopsis, I write all except the actual synopsis itself before its on TV, then at 5pm it is complete and posted! Although I don’t want to give everything away, over the months I have found a lot of shortcuts, so I now find stuff easily, and unlike many, I rarely take from other peoples Blogs. Yes a fair share of people does contribute or point me in the right direction too, which I appreciate - it’s good to share! Don’t get me wrong I do spend a lot of time on the blog though.

Furthermore I have 2 other blogs and contribute to a local flickr group too http://www.flickr.com/groups/gainsborough/pool/ and I’m active on a couple of forums, and I don’t live on the internet, I have a life.

Part 2 of the interview will be posted tomorrow and don't forget to check out Comboms fantastic Blog here.