You came back - yay!
I don't think I'll have to do too much explaining about my idea to decorate Gromit as you'll be able to tell from the photographs.
What I do want you all to appreciate, however, is the amount of painstaking effort that went into it! 
Being an author it made sense to use words to decorate Gromit, not just any old words, but words lifted from  my debut, Jarred Dreams.
That way Gromit became meaningful, plus I could donate a book alongside my time.
My thinking was anyone who's really keen could  go through the book and find the words, proving  they genuinely came from the pages of Jarred Dreams.
First I flicked through the book and typed up the words and/or phrases that jumped out at me. Next, I put them in different fonts and sizes and printed them off. 

After that I cut them out. Then I cut them smaller, and smaller still.
You see the pieces in the photo to the left? Do they look small enough? Well they weren't, I had to cut them super small, really very tiny because when I started to stick the words onto the dog I realised you couldn't have any extra paper. If the paper  overlapped it did't stick.  
My daughters both helped a bit. We started with the feet and worked our way up. 
It took a few sessions and in the meantime I kept the tiny words in an envelope so they didn't get lost. 
More words than you might think are needed to decorate a Gromit and I did have to print off a second time, so there may be one or two repetitions.
Take a look at the photos below to see how Gromit progressed and read tomorrows blog.

They say you know you're a celebrity when you've been asked to do something for charity. Well, move over JK Rowling, there's a new author in town.
A while ago I was contacted by Hirut Rock, from St Albans Girls School (STAGS). She works with a group of girls who run the Rotary Club for their school. (Rotary is an international fundraising charity that raises money to donate to other organisations.) The STAGS girls wanted to become part of the Wallace and Gromit Grand Appeal and asked if I would decorate a Gromit.
The idea is that they auction off the Gromits (and Shauns) that are decorated by celebrities (like me) and the money is donated to the appeal. It actually goes to The Bristol Children's Hospital Charity. You can read more about that by clicking on the link: The Grand Appeal
I said YES PLEASE (naturally) and then I thought, I'm no artist, what can I do? That was when I had my idea and you'll have to read my blog tomorrow to find out (cliffhanger).