Good morning Hank, it's Tuesday. I've been writing all morning so I'm just kinda out of it. I've been writing almost every day since I got back from the Paper Towns set and as much as I do enjoy spending 18 hours a day six days a week trying to figure out precisely what an Executive Producer is supposed to do, I definitely like writing even more. Like, it's just such a massive relief to even temporarily feel like you can escape the prison of your consciousness, you know? But I'm just kind of out of it 'cause I'm kind of in the story and not really here. But anyway, today's video comes to you in two parts:

Part one. A Decade.

Hank, it has been ten years since my first novel Looking for Alaska was published. As nerdfighter Temerity Jane pointed out on Twitter that means that Looking for Alaska is now like a fifth grader. Looking For Alaska isn't just potty trained it can like make itself a grilled cheese for lunch and read books. Looking For Alaska potentially could read Looking for Alaska although I would not recommend it.

By the way, Hank, you might know nerdfighter Temerity Jane as the person who's marriage proposal I participated in many years ago?

John: Will you marry him?
Kelly: Holy... Yes!
John: YEAH! SHE SAID YES! HAZZAH! (Opens champagne bottle)
Kelly: Oh my god, I don't even have pants on. 
John: GAHHH!

Well, Hank, not only are she and nerdfighter Phil now married, they in fact have a child. A tiny little nerdfighter. God, we're getting old.

But I just feel so incredibly lucky and grateful that this little book has hung around for so long.

And as of today, Hank, there is a brand new super fancy edition of Looking for Alaska with fifty pages of bonus content and really really nice paper. Hank, as you know I'm something of a book making nerd and nothing against the original Looking for Alaska with the candle cover that I didn't like because this is cigarette smoke not candle smoke, and it's cheap paper and it's inexpensive binding. But Hank, I always dreamed that when I had a book come out it would have this thing. You see that think up there? That black and white thing? That little thing is astonishingly expensive but it is my favorite thing in books. Also it's got this beautiful cover designed by Rodrigo Corral and these great end papers he designed. At the beginning it says "I go to seek a great perhaps," which were the last words of François Rabelais and at the end it says "How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?" which were the last words of Simón Bolívar.

It's also got a new introduction from me, a bunch of deleted and revised scenes from the book to give people a sense of how Julie and I worked on it together, a retrospective essay by the great YA lit scholar Michael Cart, and like thirty pages of me answering the questions that readers have asked me most over the years.

But mostly it's just like the physical object of my dreams. So yeah this is in bookstores now, but mostly ten years later I just wanted to say thank you.

Part two. The 2014 Project for Awesome.

So Hank, this year half the Project for Awesome raised money for Save the Children and Partners in Health. That part raised over $700,000 for those two great organizations. And then the second part of the Project for Awesome raised money for charities chosen by nerdfighteria. And today I get to announce what those charities are.

The top ten charities according to your votes at projectforawesome.com will receive $25,000 each and they are:

Not Forgotten, which works with orphans in Peru.
The Harry Potter Alliance, which works to decrease world-suck in all kinds of ways around the world.
The Office of Letters and Light, which runs NaNoWriMo.
The Thirst Project, a water charity.
This Star Won't Go Out, which provides direct support to families of kids living with cancer.
Doctors Without Borders, which provides, you know, doctors without borders.
Days for Girls International, which works to provide feminine hygiene products and sexual education to girls around the world.
She's the First, which is dedicated to girls education in the developing world.
Pencils for Kids, which, you know, brings pencils to kids. And
Ultimate Peace, an organization that uses Ultimate Frisbee to facilitate relationships between Israelis and Palestinians.

Smaller grants, but still over $10,000 will go to the next ten charities chosen by nerdfighteria which are:

We Need Diverse Books
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
The Book Truck 
To Write Love on Her Arms
Donate Life
Garczyńska's Foundation
Books for Africa
Stella's Circle,
Water.org and
The Sound of Hope.

These twenty charities are going to use our money to decrease world-suck in lots of ways. It's just awesome. Thank you. OK now I'm going to go back to writing, Hank, because I miss it. By the way, Hank, I hear on Tumblr that you are also writing a story. This is how I find out about things in my brother's life now. Tumblr.

But seriously, Hank, can you believe it's been ten years? I mean, this book is older than YouTube! It's older than some of the people watching this video. Ah! That didn't go particularly well. I'll see you on Friday.