Talk about something amazing. My third book just came off the press. Nobody's more surprised than me.

When I retired nearly 20 years ago, after writing more than 8,000 columns for the Lansing State Journal, many readers asked if I would someday write a book. I said a big ‘no’ to all that and told them that my old typewriter would be used as an anchor for my fishing boat.

But my wife, Darl, didn’t see it that way. When I tied a rope to my old typewriter, she stopped me. Then she went through all of those 8,000 columns and selected 60 for a book she called “The Onlooker Looks Back.” The Onlooker was the name given to that column all those years.

We ordered 5,000 copies of the book and it was sold out in about three months.

Here’s the amazing part. The book sold for $5.95 per copy. Today, of course, the book is long out of print and when found in a rare book store it sells for upwards of $50, if it has an autograph.

Who’d have believed it? I still have about 25 copies of that book and I think I’m going to sign them and use the money to buy college textbooks for my grandkids.

Now, let us step forward a few years and think about what has emerged from the keys of that old typewriter Darl saved from the deep.

As Country Lines magazine readers know, I have written “Right At Home” columns here for about 24 years. About 10 years ago, the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association decided to produce a book of those early columns. All proceeds went for scholarships for rural kids. Once again, it sold 5,000 copies and it too is now out of print. That book sold for $8, and is now at about $25 in rare bookstores—with an autograph, of course. I still have some copies of that book that I might sign and turn into college textbooks for my grandkids.

And now, here we are in shock at the third book recently off the press. This time they ordered 7,500 copies, and I fear I’ll be in a casket before they get those sold. However, it is the best book of the three, in my humble opinion. Once again, all proceeds go for scholarships for rural kids. I like having the book, but I love the cause even more.

This time the book is $10 and you will find an advertisement and order blank in the July/August issue of the magazine on page 23, or you can buy it online.

My compliments to Darl for salvaging my old typewriter. I have loved this time with Country Lines. It kept me from getting brain-dead.

This latest book is called “A View From The Top,” and the first column recounts the day I climbed the Mackinac Bridge tower to 550 feet above the water—an amazing thing for a man afraid of heights. But I needed to do it because the Mackinac Bridge Authority officially named that northwestern-most pillar in my honor many years ago.

The best thing about this book is the chance it gives me to meet with readers. At a recent book signing in downtown Lansing, I greeted hundreds of readers. So many old friends and loyal readers. They had me in tears all afternoon. The ego has gone out of it all. I am humbled by anyone asking for my autograph.

“A View From The Top” was printed by BRD Printing Company of Lansing, a firm owned by my brother, Donald Hough. Wouldn’t mom and dad be proud?

Let me give you a little peek into the book, but first, a dedication to Darl. Second, a word from the author. Hope you will add it to your library. Stop by at Paradise and anywhere else you find me and I can sign it.

To my Wife, Darl
If it has not been nearly 50 years of marital bliss, then we came mighty close. As most readers know, I have been legally blind for over 40 years—unable to drive or read printed material. Although she maintained a 27-year career as a teacher, she also raised two wonderful children, Linda and Steve, and served as my loving wife, cab driver and daily reader. How she managed all that remains a mystery. Thus, this book and any other professional notoriety I enjoy is largely of her creation. I may be a man of words, but they cannot describe my gratitude for the love of such a woman.

A Word from the Author
I am humbled by the many honors that came my way during a long writing career. Induction into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame and the Central Michigan University Journalism Hall of Fame did not put me on an ego trip. Instead they filled me with a special kind of gratitude. Much has been made of my years as a daily columnist for the Lansing State Journal. But there is a special place in my journalistic life that belongs to the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association and its magazine, Country Lines. Oh, how I loved doing all the columns in this book for the Country Lines readers. There is something special about America’s rural people and, just like the column’s name says, I am ‘right at home’ when writing for them.

The first “Right At Home” book, published about 10 years ago, is long out of print because you bought 5,000 of them. Profits went to scholarships for rural kids, and so it will be with this book. A special thanks to Mike Buda and the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association staff for support and encouragement. In my retirement years, you’ve enriched my life and, more importantly, kept me from going brain-dead.