Greetings, Larry. I came to Mythic Scribes only after publishing my second book. It's showcased on the promotions forum here. (My first book isn't, since that one isn't fantasy in the sense in which that term is used here, although one reviewer did apply it.) More recently, I've been composing...
"Said" can be overused and the writer may by all means seek out alternatives, but an honest "said" that fits is much better than a stilted alternative.
Update: The Seventh Circumstance will be free on Smashwords and a range of other vendors during Read an E-book week 2026 (March 1 - 7). You can use the UBL in the opening post.
On my first novel, I published the e-book too quickly and noticed some formatting issues and a small but embarrassing continuity howler in the published text. I re-published it and made sure that the paperback was correct. The corrected e-book and paperback were marked as edition 1.1. A year...