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Meet Larksong Board Member, Linda Kallhoff

Amanda Shu

Hi, everyone! This is Amanda Grace Shu, Larksong’s intern, here with another blog post introducing you to our Board of Directors. Today, we’re featuring Linda, the Program Coordinator for Larksong Writer’s Place.

Of all the board members, Linda has known Larksong’s founder, Karen Gettert Shoemaker, for the longest time of all the board members—the two are sisters and remain incredibly close. Linda was “enthralled” by the Write on the River retreats that her sister organized, which reawakened her own impulse to write. She and Karen wondered if there was a way to make these workshops accessible to writers the whole year round—an idea which would evolve into Larksong.

“At the time, I was winding down my professional career as an administrator,” Linda said. “I worked in personnel management, budgets, and marketing. In my last job, I implemented an internship program and set up adult education programs across state for new guardians and conservators. I learned how to create curriculum, schedules, registration system, evaluation system, which was especially helpful during COVID when everything went virtual. Those were all areas that I felt Larksong was going to need to develop to survive—to thrive, really.”

Linda’s vision for Larksong is rooted in her deep belief in the power of the writing process. “Writing can help you see deeper into your own experiences,” she told me. “The deeper you can see, the more wisdom you can walk away with. Sharing that vision with others, expanding that clearer vision of the world, is something that I believe Larksong can foster in writers of all levels.”

Larksong has also helped Linda develop confidence in her writing and sharing it with others. “I always thought I was just writing to my future self and keeping track of lessons learned—sort of like my own memoir,” she said. “Through Larksong, I also learned that writing was a way to clarify even the moment I was living in. When I learned to do that through some of the workshops at Larksong, I actually began to see myself as a real poet, rather than just somebody who writes.”

When I asked if the pandemic had changed her writing habits or process, the answer was yes and no. “Retirement and the pandemic came on the same wings,” she said. “The idea of the pandemic has been reflected in my writing, but whether it changed how I behave as a writer? I can’t really tell you because it was right in the middle of another huge transition in my life.”

That transition, it seems, has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. “I am grateful beyond measure to have ended up where I have in the development of Larksong,” Linda said. “Having the time at this stage of my life to be able to commit to making it happen—I’m pleased and grateful about that.”