Seymour author Les Linz plans to release a new book next month containing a collection of his humor columns.

The book is titled “Humor: More or Les: A Year in the Life.”

Linz, 63, grew up in the Chicago area and became interested in writing in sixth grade, he said.

“I wrote a parody of a program that was popular at the time and sent it in to the Johnny Carson show,” Linz said. “For some reason, they never responded. Now, Johnny has passed, and the show is off the air.”

He’s pretty sure they regretted not using his material, he said, laughing.

“I’d like to think I was humorous in high school,” he said. “I guess I was in college, too, because I remember one day when I was very depressed and didn’t say anything and more than one person asked what was wrong because I didn’t crack any jokes that day.”

Linz went to Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois, which at that time was a junior college and is now a university. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in speech/communication at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.

Linz moved to Seymour about 16 years ago when he had a job that brought him here. He became an ordained minister in 2014 and currently is between jobs. In the past, he has excelled in customer service, he said.

His wife, Kathi Linz, is employed at Jackson County Public Library in Seymour.

Linz said his new book is not the first he has penned. He has had several others published, along with a couple of articles, one available as an Amazon short read.

”What turned out to be my first column was actually written for Cracked Magazine (now online only), Mad Magazine’s old nemesis,” he said. “But as it turns out, they stopped taking submissions from freelancers just before I submitted my column to them.”

So he thought about what he was going to do with the column he had worked so hard on and decided to submit it to the newspaper.

“The ideas came week after week, and I went from guest columnist to columnist with a byline,” he said. “For a period of 52 consecutive weeks, my humor columns appeared in The Tribune.”

He came up with topics for his column in a variety of ways, like walking the dogs with his wife, reading internet news stories, watching ludicrous television commercials and engaging in conversations with friends and loved ones.

“Mostly, my ideas came from pairing things together that don’t normally get paired, like Dr. Fauci being the master of ceremonies for the first New Year’s celebration midst the pandemic, where as a nation, we watch the bottle of hand sanitizer drop down the last 10 seconds of the year in Times Square,” he said.

Kathi also is an author and has several books published, but don’t look for the two of them to collaborate on a book project any time soon.

Les recently asked her if she would want to work on a book with him, and she emphatically responded, “Not a chance.”

“We have two different writing styles, but we did collaborate at times as the columns were constructed with her mostly offering wisdom as to what to not write about,” Les said. “As Proverbs 18:22 says, ‘Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing and obtaineth favour of the Lord.’”

The couple do work together at times on “Lesricks,” something of a limerick they write on a weekly basis for an internet program, The Superior Word, so named because the congregation it comes out of is located on Superior Avenue.

“I came up with the current book idea when I was wanting to augment my income with freelance writing,” he said. “The reading audience is anybody that can use a laugh or two to rescue them from the day-to-day craziness the world serves up these days.”

He was very pleased with the book cover, created by graphic designer Emma Zumhingst of Seymour, and believes the book would make a great Christmas present and should be available on Amazon within the week.

Linz said he hopes the takeaway from his book will be happiness.

“As Proverbs 17 says, ‘A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones,’” he said. “I want the readers to have ‘good drugs’ and lubricated bones.”

The book is dedicated to several people, starting with his mother, whose writing DNA flows freely through his blood. It also is dedicated to Linz’s daughter, who with her traits is as easy to love as the savior himself, he said.

“It is likewise dedicated to my beta readers with gratefulness from me for their invaluable input,” he said. “And to my wife, a prolific author in her own right, who never wants anything than the very best for me and who sacrifices freely to see that come to pass.”

Finally, the book is dedicated to Linz’s earthly father, the best friend he ever had and the source of inspiration for the “In Praise of Fathers — Everywhere” column that appeared in The Tribune on June 19, 2021.

After the book is released, Linz said he is confident he will be writing another in the future.

”Probably like most writers, I’ve got multiple future projects going at once,” he said. “Mostly devotional books that spring forth from a quirky beginning.”

His dream is to one day become a syndicated columnist.

Those who are interested in “Humor: More or Les: A Year in the Life” can check Linz’s author page on amazon.com, tinyurl.com/mdsa6te, or send him a message on Facebook.