BIG NEWS: Exalted Ground's Cover Reveal and Book Launch from the Blue Ridge Mountains

I need your help. Be the first to see Exalted Ground and join the team!

Dearest Reader,

It’s been about fifteen months in the making, and I am so excited and blessed to finally share the next steps of the writing and publishing process with you from my cabin tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

But first, here is the poem that inspired it all, which I wrote in my final editing days Of Wings and Dirt. It is the poem that earned me my first Pushcart Prize nomination with The Dewdrop Literary Journal, and it is the first poem in my new collection, Exalted Ground: Poems of Praise and Lament for the Living, which debuts with The Way Back Books on April 7, 2025.

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EXALTED GROUND
by Kimberly Phinney

I walk these mountains— 
these bodies, 
these large breathing blue souls—
as a small mark 
on their weathered skin. 

Breathing, too, I learn 
this is Holy Land they have 
so generously shared 
with me—
that this is the Maker’s 
first goodness 
I did not deserve—
rarified air.
And still, the land 
offers herself up
like a mother.

This ancient trail 
I walk deep into, 
between juts and drop-offs,
is a small vein 
or artery that pulses 
from one major organ 
to the next:
the freshwater lake I look into,
a trickling stream in the glen,
or a timid doe and her kin.
Yet it holds my steps
and my life 
like they matter.

And these trees, 
the longleaf pines
and species 
I do not know how to name
like Adam did, 
are all separate but one, 
as they sway in infinite song—
a Mass of life 
all moving, 
all talking,
all beating 
as one.
All writing psalms  
with their leafy tongues
in summer,
in autumn,
in winter,
in spring—
whooshing 
like gorgeous vocal cords
making church for God
like David did
in the wilderness.

And here I am—
somehow—
as a parishioner,
a beggar,
a sinner,
a saint,
whispering  
my Hallelujahs
and Amens
along with them.

I don’t know
which one I am
to this humming world—
or to God sometimes.
But sinner or saint,
orphan or child,  
I will bend my knees
like a good witness
and gasp 
all the same, 
for I have tasted 
and seen
this exalted
ground,
and it has 
looked into 
me.

---

FROM MY WRITER’S DESK TO YOU

Here is the very corner of the world where I am writing to you. It comes with jazz, strong coffee, a fireplace, late nights, and the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Essentially, it’s this writer’s dream office, and it’s the land that inspired so much of Exalted Ground. I am doubly grateful that I have had my strongest week since my hospitalization in September.

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BOOK COVER REVEAL AND ENDORSEMENTS

So, without further ado, here is the FIRST look at Exalted Ground: Poems of Praise and Lament for the Living from The Way Back Books. I was the cover designer, too, and I am so pleased with how it turned out and the feelings it evokes¹. What do you think?

BLURB: Exalted Ground is Kimberly Phinney’s much-anticipated follow-up collection to her best-selling debut, Of Wings and Dirt. In Exalted Ground, readers who were swept away by Kimberly’s vulnerability and powerful storytelling through verse will find even more reasons to continue with her into the holiness that is living awake. With the raw beauty of nature and longing as her backdrop, Kimberly navigates what it is to be fully alive, as she journeys with her readers through the most essential aspects of the human experience: to praise and lament, to wonder and search, and to love and create. Following in the traditions of Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry, Exalted Ground celebrates the great awe found in God’s creation and the divine spark nestled in our ordinary days.

ENDORSEMENTS: Another unbelievable gift was the generous and kind endorsements Exalted Ground received from some of my favorite writers, creatives, and leaders²: A warm thank you to

Karen Swallow Prior

,

Josh Nadeau

, and Stephen Roach of Makers and Mystics and The Breath and the Clay. I am extremely grateful.

And of course, I am deeply grateful to my foreword writer, friend, and endorser,

Tanner Olson

. He truly is the real deal. And he keeps us all hoping when the hoping is hard. Be sure to preorder his new children’s book. It’s beautiful.

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EXALTED GROUND LAUNCH TEAM INVITE

So, this is where I need your help! I will share more details with you via email when we put together our team. But I need YOU, yes YOU, to join our Exalted Ground Book Launch Team and help The Way Back Books find its way in the publishing world and to the bookshelves and nightstands of beautiful people like you.

We are looking for 100 friends to join this launch between our 1.2k friends on Substack and 10.3k friends on Instagram. This launch isn’t just about Exalted Ground; it’s also about the birth of The Way Back Books, which is the very work and service God is making evident in my life.

If you are at all interested in being a part of this, it’s quite simple:

FIRST, PLEASE EMAIL ME at thewayback2ourselves@gmail.com to sign up with your name, email, and any social media handles and links to your writing you’d like to share. I want to try to connect with each of you, too!

THEN, WHEN THE BOOK COMES OUT ON APRIL 7, PLEASE BE SURE TO:

1. BUY Exalted Ground on Amazon (even buying two copies would be great—one for you and one for the one you love!).

2. READ Exalted Ground (and even enjoy it!).

3. SHARE Exalted Ground on your social media platforms, Substack, and email list (and even in real life with your church, community, and friends). Please be sure it’s authentically YOU and what you are comfortable doing.

4. RATE Exalted Ground on Amazon and Goodreads with an honest review.

5. Then JOIN US for the Exalted Ground Book Launch Zoom Party (date to be determined) to celebrate, ask questions, hear some of my poetry performed, and maybe even meet some of our other TWBTO community members (and authors).

I can’t begin to express how essential these early purchases and reviews are for small presses like The Way Back Books and authors like me. Of Wings and Dirt was a bestseller simply because of YOU, your love and loyalty, and your word of mouth. I can’t thank you enough for this kindness. I pray it is a kindness you might extend to Exalted Ground because it is a book that is so near and dear to my heart, and it was written with YOU in mind.

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So, there you have it, on this peaceful Sunday evening. Exalted Ground is almost here! It feels so overwhelming and vulnerable (and everything in between) to move into this next step of the journey. It requires the bravest part a writer has to give. But what I said with Of Wings and Dirt, I am finding is still true: The book has done its work in me. I thank God for that. Now, I am trusting Him to use this book to do a good work in YOU.

I like to say, “May these words rise up to meet you exactly where you are.” And I really mean it. I am simply bringing my crumbs and trusting God to multiply them however He sees fit.

When I was battling sepsis in my hospital bed, I promised God that if He saved my life, I’d spend the rest of it telling people about Him. Well, He saved me, so that’s exactly what I plan to do!

God bless you and thank you for being here. I deeply appreciate you, your hearts, and your readership.

You belong here,

me

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1. This is extra fun because it also hints at the aesthetic for The Way Back Books. Our future authors, like

Rosa Gilbert

and

Deborah Rutherford

, have gorgeous covers in-progress that establish their own sense of storytelling but will also sing in beautiful harmony with the vision of The Way Back Books. But I’ll stop there because I don’t want to give away too much too soon! Can you tell we are excited?

2. There are more beautiful endorsements to share as the BIG day approaches! I just didn’t want to overwhelm you and run out of space! But more to come from friends like

Matthew Nash

,

Deidre Braley

,

Jodi H. Grubbs

, and more. I also have so many people to thank in this journey, and that gratitude will be on display soon; I promise!