Meet The Editing Team

Sarah Leamy MFA-Writing

Sarah Leamy is a British novelist living in the Southwest,USA and Baja in Mexico. After exploring various communities and subcultures across Europe and the Americas, Leamy’s writing focuses on people and places, curiosity-driven travels, and her observations of all the different ways we live.

Her fiction shares stories of outsiders, loyal dogs, incredible landscapes and unconventional women in search of belonging in the wild Southwest. Leamy’s characters navigate complex themes of gender, sexuality, class, power, poverty, drugs, and mental health in unexpected ways. With vivid descriptions of the American Southwest, its landscapes, animals, and lifestyle, Leamy’s distinctive voice brings you into the visceral experience of those struggling to find a sense of connection. Her work is known for its strong independent women who challenge social norms, unpredictable plots, and richly drawn characters. 

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With a lifetime on the road, Leamy focuses on encouraging others to explore more By publishing Wanderlust Journal, an online hub for personal travel stories, the podcast of the same name, and managing Wild Dog Press which publishes a select few travel memoirs.

Sarah also presents at Overland Expo and other such travel expos on such topics as being a solo explorer, taking pets along, the Southwest Backroads, and the business of writing and publishing. 

Sarah’s artwork captures her quirky style and observations, whether the cartoon-like dogs and cats, the urban sketches or the colorful folk art paintings. You can find her work here on the website and it’s for sale through Etsy. 

Ruth Underhill RN, BSN, MFA-Writing

Ruth Underhill established Tongass Mist Writing in 2019, drawing inspiration from her first year in the picturesque town of Sitka, Alaska. She holds immense gratitude for the opportunity to live in and share the beauty of Tlingit Aáni with both writers and guests who visit Southeast Alaska, a region that encompasses the unceeded lands of the Tsimshian, Tlingit, and Haida Alaska Native peoples.

Ruth's vision for Tongass Mist Writing is to cultivate a vibrant creative community that prioritizes creative writing craft and community. This community is influenced by inevitable breathtaking awe of the Tongass rainforest. It aims to serve as a force for good in the world by empowering voices through  collaborative community relationships, engaging classes, enriching events, and transformative retreats.

Ruth's academic journey includes earning her in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2019 after earning her first nursing degree in 2004 and working as an inpatient nurse for the next two decades. A significant portion of her nursing career was spent in perinatal health with women and infants. She also spent two years in geriatric nursing, where she encountered many elders with incredible stories to share. Her nursing career spanned nine states and over two dozen facilities thanks to a career split between staff positions and contract nursing. So, Ruth has a well rounded view of healthcare realities in the United States. She loves to write with people about their encounters with healthcare and their careers in healthcare. She loves to offer embodied writing workshops for healthcare professionals to help them find validation in demanding experiences. 

Having grown up on three different continents, Ruth's early childhood was spent in Chicago, Illinois. the latter half of her childhood, her family was involved with international in Yemen and Kazakhstan. Although she identifies as a Midwesterner, she holds a deep-rooted love for her other childhood homes in The Land of Sheba and along The Silk Road.

Her passion for culture, identity, and the significance of place has been shaped by her exposure to diverse community identities both globally and within the United States.

Ruth firmly believes in the universal power of storytelling and the ability of narratives to create connections among people, transcending differences in race, gender, religion, politics, age, and various other identities and abilities.

When Ruth is not engaged in fostering community for fellow writers, she can often be found scribbling in her notebooks, essays that explore the intersections of wilderness awe, travel experiences, her expatriate childhood, themes of war.

She leads a weekly writing circles for Tongass Mist Writing and also teaches writing classes. In addition to her teaching, Ruth organizes various community events, including mental health art initiatives for hospital staff, generative writing strolls, and writing workshops throughout Southeast Alaska.

Furthermore, she offers editing and writing coaching services through Tongass Mist Writing, serves as the Library Director in Tenakee Springs, Alaska, and teaches writing courses for the University of Alaska Southeast in Sitka as often as possible.