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. 

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 founded Tongass Mist Writing in 2019, inspired by her first year in Sitka, Alaska. She is grateful to live in and share Tlingit Aáni with writers and guests to Southeast Alaska; the unceded lands of Tsimshian, Tlingit and Haida Alaska Native peoples. Ruth's vision for Tongass Mist Writing is to create a catalyst for creative community which is safe for everyone, influenced by Tongass rainforest awe and a force for good in the world through the voices empowered to write in our community relationships, classes, events and retreats. Ruth went to writing school at Vermont College of Fine Arts where she earned her MFA in writing in 2019. She is a registered nurse who spent twenty years working as an inpatient nurse across nine states, as a staff and contract nurse, staff nurse and manager, preceptor and educator. Most of Ruth's nursing career was dedicated to perinatal health of women and infants. She also spent two years in geriatric nursing, a space full of elders with great stories! Ruth grew up on three continents . She spent her early childhood Chicago, Illinois. Her family worked with international schools in Yemen and Kazahkstan for the latter ten years of her childhood. She is a Midwesterner on the outside with a deep rooted love of her other childhood homes in The Land of Sheba and on The Silk Road. Her loves for culture, identity and value of place is rooted in her exposure to community identities around the world and the U.S.A. She believes in the universal power of story and the common ground of people everywhere which creates community across racial, gender, religious, political, age and various other identity and ability differences. When Ruth is not creating community for other writers, she can be found scribbling in her own notebooks and composing essays about the intersection of wilderness awe, travel, healthcare, an expat childhood and war. Ruth leads the weekly writing circle for Tongass Mist Writing each Monday morning 11am-Noon AKST on Zoom and teaches other classes. She organizes community events such as hospital staff mental health art events, generative writing cafe strolls, writing workshops in Southeast, Alaska and more. Ruth provides editing and writing coach services through Tongass Mist Writing as well as serving at the Library Director in Tenakee, Alaska and teaching for writing for the University of Alaska Southeast in Sitka.