Category Archives: Fun Facts

Coffee to Improve my Health!

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Drinking 2 to 3 cups of coffee daily, including ground, instant, or decaffeinated coffee, is associated with significant reductions in cardiovascular disease and mortality, compared with avoiding coffee, a new analysis of the prospective UK Biobank suggests.

Ground and instant coffee, but interestingly, not decaffeinated coffee intake was also associated with reduced risk of new-onset arrhythmia, including atrial fibrillation. “Daily coffee intake should not be discouraged by physicians but rather considered part of a healthy diet,” Kistler said.

“This study supports that coffee is safe and even potentially beneficial, which is consistent with most of the prior evidence,” Carl Lavie, MD, who wasn’t involved in the study, told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology.

“We do not prescribe coffee to patients, but for the majority who like coffee, they can be encouraged — it is fine to take a few cups daily,” said Lavie, with the Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Significant reductions in the risk of incident coronary heart disease were associated with habitual coffee intake of up to 5 cups/day. Coffee consumption at all levels was associated with significant reduction in the risk of congestive cardiac failure and ischemic stroke. The lowest risks were observed in those who consumed 2 to 3 cups/day.

“Coffee consumption is associated with cardiovascular benefits and should not empirically be discontinued in those with underlying heart rhythm disorders or cardiovascular disease,” Kistler told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology

“Caffeine has also a role in weight loss through inhibition of gut fatty acid absorption and increase in basal metabolic rate. Furthermore, coffee has been associated with a significantly lower incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus,” Kistler added.

So enjoy your coffee while reading a new book, or better a box of new books.

No love can ever be as special as your first.
What if you could have the chance at a new beginning with your first love?
Find true love and your happy ever after in the pages of these SIX BRAND NEW, full-length steamy stories from New York Times and USA Today Bestselling, Award-Winning Authors.

TWO HEARTS REUNITED by Tamara Ferguson, USA Today bestselling author. When Lieutenant Eric O’Neill returns to Crystal Rock for a family reunion, he’s shocked to run into none other than Anya Weldon, the only woman he’s ever loved. Learning that her life’s been filled with tragedy, he’s determined to win her back—even if it means assisting with her search for her sister, who she believes was abducted by human traffickers ten years earlier.

BACK TO ME by Natalie Ann, USA Today bestselling author: Cooper Winslow accepted that his first secret love in college was lost to him forever and moved on with his life. Years later, fate brings them together and now he wonders if he is going to lose her again with all the family drama he’s lived with for years.

SWEET SUCCESS by Suzanne Jenkins, USA Today bestselling author: Carly and Jake love each other, but have goals that will place them at opposite ends of the country. When their dreams fall through, will love still be an option?

YOUR DANGEROUS KISS by Alicia Street, USA Today bestselling author: Rafe March considers his career on the big screen a fluke that he isn’t sure he ever wanted. With magazine cover good looks, a near genius IQ and a wealthy family, his options in life are plenty. Too bad the only thing he ever really wanted was Lucinda.

WE’RE ALL WINNERS by Mona Risk, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author: Scheming people and secrets separated them. With help from her toddler and his German shepherd, love may bring them together again.

THE REGAL ROSE by Susanne Matthews, International bestselling author: She’s a princess in distress; he’s her knight in shining armor. Can he rescue her one more time?

Chatting with ChatGPT: A Romance Writer’s Perspective #RachelleAyala @mimisgang1 #mgtab

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Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

These days, you can’t go anywhere without the assistance of Artificial Intelligence or AI. Did you know that most of the robocallers are AI voices? Try asking them something out of their script, like how’s the weather or what’s happening in your town. Or the online Chat from your bank is also AI? It paused on the simplest question that any human would have known and came back with a generic thing about deposits, completely out of the context of my question.

The use of AI has finally come to the masses with OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT [free tier available]. Everyone, from journalists, coders, lawyers, and students has been flocking to it to try it out. Of course, there is the usual fear of something new. Teachers bemoan that their students will cheat on essays, and others talk about how AI will take over the world. Little do they know that AI is already behind the scenes in everything they do, including robo-vacuum cleaners, diagnostic imaging, self-driving cars, and even your grammar checker and cell phone texting app.

So, as a bold writer, I decided to jump full in and see how ChatGPT and other AI tools can make my writing life happier, healthier, and more productive [that’s the hope]. In case you’re wondering, I’m writing this blog post by myself.

Here’s what ChatGPT can do for you.

  • It can come up with story premises, so many that you have a hard time choosing. It can pair unique and unusual couples together and give them a core conflict.
  • It can create connected series premises and create a fun series of titles that match.
  • It can talk to you for hours about your characters, settings, fill in character sheets like crazy, create imaginary and fictional settings and create timelines and fictional histories.
  • It can take your story premise and give you a three-act summary from which you can develop further.
  • It can give you an outline from which you can refine.
  • It can write about 500 words from your outline which is pretty bare bones.

Here’s what the current GPT-3.5 ChatGPT cannot do:

  • Like current generation AI tools, it doesn’t have much retention of context. It will happily contradict itself in the same sentence or not “remember” that something already happened. For example, in the same chapter, it will have Lily ask Jackson the name of the puppy, and then turn around and have Jackson ask Lily the name of the puppy.
  • If you are using it for fact and not fiction, you must fact check because it will happily invent things that sound correct but are not.
  • It tells you it knows the Romancing the Beat plot structure and then happily goes on and uses a mishmash of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, Save the Cat, and whatever else it picked up.
  • It will happily resolve the romance as early as possible and wrap things up at the end of every “chapter.”
  • Most of all, it cannot write you a publishable book in 2 hours although it will happily write you a novel of about 500 words.

Then there are the editing tools that help you rephrase and generate new twists and ideas. You may have been using them without knowing you were using AI.

  • ProWritingAid has GPT-3 powered Rephrase technology
  • Grammarly has a new GrammarlyGo will compose drafts for you, rewrite, brainstorm, and personalize your text to your own voice.
  • And then there’s Sudowrite, a creative writing tool started by a group of writers called sudowriters that provides a online writing app that generates, creates, twists, rewrites, and unleashes its imagination in highly creative ways–sometimes too creative that it makes you laugh.

To give you a taste of what AI can do to make you laugh, here is a prompt I gave ChatGPT: Please write about the time change “Spring Forward” from the perspective of a cranky clock. I then asked it to rewrite several times. Please rewrite using the voice of a Valley Girl. Please rewrite using the voice of a grumpy grandfather clock. Then I asked it to rewrite as if it was a sundial covered with bird poop, and for the final coup de grace, I asked it to rewrite with the voice of Edgar Allan Poe’s Raven. [I won’t copy and paste all of this, but it was hilarious]. Go to ChatGPT and try it yourself.

Of course, I had to go out there and write a book and share. Ta, ta, ta, dum: From the Author of Romance in a Month, get her newest book on using Artificial Intelligence to write a romance. Introducing Love by the Prompt: A Romance Writer’s Guide to AI-Powered Writing

Love by the Prompt: A Romance Writer’s Guide To AI Powered Writing by Rachelle Ayala

Here is a book review from an author who didn’t want to post it with her name:

Grab Your Favorite Beverage and Your Laptop 

Ayala’s Love by the Prompt gives you detailed examples of how to use Chat GPT3, SudoWrite, and AI Playground to tell your romance story. This timely book shows the good, the bad, and the uh-ohs of using AI to help develop your story. 

This is not a book that can be read through in one sitting. You’ll get the most out of it by following along with her and inputting prompts as described in the book. 

There’s no false promises about using AI tools to create a bestseller – ready for publication in 2 hours. 

It’s more of a workbook that requires your active participation so you can better understand the power AI can have on your writing process. This serves as a great reference book that I will return to again and again.

I highly recommend this book to authors who are wondering if AI is right for them.

<End of Review>

Let me be the first to welcome you into this new world of AI-powered writing! “May all your prompts be near you.” Please join my Romance in a Month Facebook Group if you want to write along with us, discuss AI prompts, and share your stories and progress with us.

I wrote this blog post without AI, but here’s a fun little post I asked Sudowrite and ChatGPT to write about why we need writing friends, including AI friends:

Oh. My. Gosh. Having writer friends is, like, totally the bomb.com, amirite?! Whether they’re human or an AI like ChatGPT or Sudowrite, they can create worlds that are, like, out of this world! They can tell stories that just capture your heart and imagination and make you feel like you’re part of the adventure. And, like, you can’t wait to find out what happens next!

For more AI Resources for Writers, check out this page from AI Fiction Coach.

Travel with Mona to Spain

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We went to Spain several times, mostly to Madrid and Barcelona, but my favorite trip was the bus tour we took around the south and west. I will share here some of my favorite places, mainly Cordova and Seville.

We flew to Lisbon, Portugal, and drove through Andalusia, a region of hills, rivers and farmland bordering Spain’s southern coast. It was under Moorish rule from the 8th-15th centuries, a legacy that shows in its architecture, including such landmarks as the Alcázar castle in Seville, the capital city, as well as Córdoba’s Mezquita Mosque-Cathedral and Granada’s Alhambra palace.

Our first stop was in Cordova (Cordoba). It was an important Roman city and a major Islamic center in the Middle Ages. It’s best known for La Mezquita, an immense mosque dating from 784 A.D., featuring a columned prayer hall and older Byzantine mosaics. After it became a Catholic church in 1236 and the Cordova Cathedral, a Renaissance-style nave was added in the 17th century. 

A new capital

Following the overthrow of his family (the Umayyads) in Damascus by the incoming Abbasids, Prince Abd al-Rahman escaped to southern Spain. Once there, he established control over almost all of the Iberian Peninsula and attempted to recreate the grandeur of Damascus in his new capital, Córdoba. He sponsored elaborate building programs, promoted agriculture, and even imported fruit trees and other plants from his former home. Orange trees still stand in the courtyard of the Mosque of Córdoba, a beautiful, if bittersweet reminder of the Umayyad exile.

Known locally as Mezquita-Catedral, the Great Mosque of Córdoba is one of the oldest structures still standing from the time Muslims ruled Al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia including most of Spain, Portugal, and a small section of Southern France) in the late 8th century. Córdoba is a two hour train ride south of Madrid, and draws visitors from all over the world.

Temple/church/mosque/church

The buildings on this site are as complex as the extraordinarily rich history they illustrate. Historians believe that there had first been a temple to the Roman god, Janus, on this site. The temple was converted into a church by invading Visigoths who seized Córdoba in 572. Next, the church was converted into a mosque and then completely rebuilt by the descendants of the exiled Umayyads—the first Islamic dynasty who had originally ruled from their capital Damascus (in present-day Syria) from 661 until 750.

Seville

This southern Spanish capital is famous for its historic churches and palaces, Moorish buildings, flamenco dancing, and more.

Plaza de España is a semi-circular brick building, Renaissance/neo-Moorish in style, with a tower at either end (tall enough to be visible around the city, these towers – north and south – are major landmarks). In front of the building, following the curve of its façade, is a 500-metre canal crossed by four bridges, and in the center is the Plaza itself. Plaza de España, Seville’s most impressive after the cathedral, was built for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929 (Expo 29), along with many of the pavilions in and around the Parque Maria Luisa.

All along the wall by the canal are 48 alcoves with benches, one for each province of Spain, each with a relevant tableau and map, all designed on colorful azulejos (painted ceramic tiles). 

Considered the heart of Seville’s tourist district, Santa Cruz is easily one of the most beautiful barrios (neighborhoods) in the whole of Spain. This neighborhood is home to many popular tourist sites, including the Seville Cathedral and the Real Alcázar, an old palace with stunning gardens to explore.

We spend a day in Santa Cruz, walking through the picturesque streets of Seville.

Going from shop to shop, looking for unique handicrafts and ceramics.

The fans of Game of Thrones will recognize the Real Alcázar de Sevilla as the Water Gardens of Dorne. The incredible royal palace was built for King Peter of Castile, a Christian king and the Alcázar was constructed on the site of a Muslim fortress.

Cathedral of Seville

Also known as the Cathedral of St. Mary of the See, it is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and the third Christian temple after St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London. Since the conquest of the city, on November 23, 1248, the building of the aljama, or the Almohad Mosque, was converted into the cathedral of the archdiocese of the Kingdom of Seville.

The Tomb of Christopher Columbus and behind the statues of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
Inside the huge cathedral

A flamenco show to end a long day.

The next day, tasting wine in Malaga.

Last Chance Plans

Love Plans Series, book 10
Sweet and Sassy
Emotional, Sensual, Humorous

NEW RELEASE

A Bad Boy Billionaire story

At twenty, Rick Lambert ran away from the US to escape the accusations hurled at him. Fifteen years later, he returns to settle in Fort Lauderdale.
Flight attendant, Madison Howell loves nothing more than her job. During a flight from Dubai to Miami, she meets the authoritative businessman and his mother.
When people from long-ago cross his path, secrets are revealed, threatening to ruin their romance. Now mature and powerful, Rick confronts his enemies to clear his name, but will it cost him the woman he loves?

About Heart Disease Risks

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Heart Disease Risks You’ve Probably Never Heard About
By Alan Reisinger, MD

If you’re trying to protect your heart, you probably already know the things you should do: Eat a healthy diet, get plenty of exercise, manage your weight, minimize stress and make sure you’re seeing your doctor regularly.

But there are other things that can put you at risk for heart disease that you may not even be aware of. Some of them are really unusual (such as living near noisy roads) while others (like crinkled ear lobes) can help identify people at risk earlier than cholesterol tests or blood pressure screenings.

Oral Health

If you were a patient in my practice, chances are you’d know about this connection. For years I’ve preached the gospel that poor oral health and heart disease are linked. While research hasn’t completely explained what’s going on, it’s clear that inflammation in your gums (periodontal disease) can influence the development of atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaque along the walls of your arteries. People with gum disease have a 49 percent chance of having a heart attack. The good news: This is one risk factor you can control by working with your dentist and your primary care doctor.

Sleep 

Not getting enough sleep – less than seven hours a night – creates a host of heart-related risks that you may not be aware of. For example, lack of sleep can impact your blood pressure, put you at risk for type 2 diabetes and encourage unhealthy weight gain.

More severe sleep issues, like sleep apnea and insomnia, can both increase your risk and be an early indicator of heart disease. Sleep apnea happens when your air flow stops while sleeping. This causes stress hormones to be released, contributing to hypertension, stroke and heart disease risk. Insomnia can increase stress, lower your motivation to move and exercise and lead to poor food choices — all of which contribute to heart disease. If you’re not sleeping well, talk to your primary care physician.

Extreme Weather

If you live where lots of snow falls, you’ve probably heard about people having heart attacks while shoveling snow. Heavy snowfall, in fact, is associated with 16 percent greater odds of men being admitted to the hospital with a heart attack, and a 34 percent increase in the chance of men dying from a heart attack. But it’s not just snow. According to a new study published in the journal Circulation, there are more cardiovascular deaths on extreme cold and hot days. It’s a good reminder not to overexert yourself when the weather is bad.

Grip Strength

Remember those old arcade games where you test your grip by squeezing a set of bars? A high grip strength set off bells and lights and made you the envy of others … okay, that didn’t happen for me either.

But there is a connection between your grip strength and cardiovascular risk. Lower grip strengths are associated with heart disease and deaths from the disease. In fact, grip strength is “a stronger predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality than systolic blood pressure,” according to a 2015 study in The Lancet.

Wrinkles, Creases and Hairline

Since 1973, we’ve known about a little quirk in anatomy: People with a diagonal earlobe crease, called Frank’s sign after the doctor who first observed it, are at higher risk of heart disease. People with this crease (called DELC) include the famous such as George W. Bush and Stephen Spielberg. Despite this correlation which includes cerebral vascular events like ischemic stroke, Frank’s sign is not typically used by doctors to measure heart disease risk because there are better tests and screenings to determine risk.

Similar research has linked wrinkly foreheads to a higher risk of heart disease. Could doctors one day diagnose heart disease with a quick glance? Maybe. Similarly, a few years ago researchers in India discovered that male-pattern baldness is associated with a five-fold increase in heart disease risk — greater than obesity — for men under the age of 40.

Your Height

Like creases in your ears and wrinkles in your forehead, you can’t do anything about your height. But unfortunately, it too can increase your risk for heart disease. Researchers have linked genetically related shorter stature with higher blood pressure levels, higher levels of LDL cholesterol (the so-called bad cholesterol) and diabetes. The study authors suggested that some of the genes that cause shorter height may also increase cholesterol levels.

Giving Birth to a Premature Baby

Women who give birth to their first child before 37 weeks of gestation have a 40 percent greater risk of heart disease later in life than women who delivered at full term. For women who gave birth before 32 weeks, the risk doubles verses women who delivered at full term. Another study found that women who give birth to four or more children in their lifetime also have a higher risk of atrial fibrillation compared to women with no pregnancies. 

The Flu

Sadly, influenza can do more than make us miserable for a week: The flu may induce a heart attack. In a five-year-old study, researchers linked incidents of flu to acute heart attacks. Severe respiratory illnesses like the flu put undue stress on our heart, which researchers speculate lead to the higher risk. If you’ve got a severe case of the flu, make sure your primary care doctor knows, especially if you are already at risk for heart disease.

Where You Live

Where you live can also play a role in your cardiovascular risk. Although much of America is in the grips of an obesity epidemic, which increases our risk of heart disease, people who live in the South and the Midwest are particularly at high risk of cardiovascular-related death because of the generally poor cardiovascular health in those regions. This is well known (in fact, part of the South is now referred to as the “stroke belt”) and there are multiple studies demonstrating it.

What’s lesser known is that things like altitude (the higher you live the lower your risk of metabolic syndrome) and latitude (the further you live from the equator, the greater your risk for heart disease). In the case of the former, people who lived at higher altitudes have fewer incidents of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that include being overweight and having high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol or excess body fat. Metabolic syndrome raises your risk for heart disease. 

Researchers have been looking at latitude as a factor since the 1970s. Much of the research has speculated that sunlight (increased levels of sunlight lower cholesterol levels), which affect vitamin D levels, may impact our heart disease risk. There was a difference in both blood pressure and cholesterol levels between people living near the equator (BP and cholesterol were lower) and those living farther from it (higher BP and cholesterol levels).

What do these more obscure risk factors mean? Some of them are significant. If you have periodontal disease, talk to your doctor and your dentist. If you’ve had high-risk pregnancies or severe flu, make sure your doctor knows these things. But if you’ve got creased ears, wrinkles on your forehead, male-pattern baldness or live close to the north pole, I wouldn’t worry too much (unless you need to shovel 50 inches of snow from the driveway). 

Worry more if you have other classic risk factors for heart disease like abnormal cholesterol levels, diabetes, hypertension or you’re overweight, sedentary or smoke. These are risks you should work on with your doctor, because mitigating these risks are going to lower your risk for heart disease more than smooth ear lobes.

A good advice (from me, not from an MD): to relax and avoid heart problems, read a good novel by the ABB authors, or even better a box of novels.

IRRESISTIBLE NEW BEGINNINGS WITH A FIRST LOVE


No love can ever be as special as your first.
What if you could have the chance at a new beginning with your first love?

Find true love and your happy ever after in the pages of these SIX BRAND NEW, full-length steamy stories from New York Times and USA Today Bestselling, Award-Winning Authors.

Unforgettable Devotion: Passion and Pain

One can be smitten by a person
but Unforgettable Devotion leaves us truly breathless, satisfied…
and complete.
Dedication, support, and loyalty are qualities we all look for in our relationships. When we add love into the mix, then we’ve hit the jackpot.
But finding love is not easy as we’ll see with these NINE tales of intrigue, suspense, and adventure our wonderful New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Authors have created.
Whether the Pain and discomfort are caused by terrorists, criminals, the deranged, or inhospitable environments, these heroes and heroines discover that what is most important is having people nearby to trust. When Passion develops, too, the Devotion is Unforgettable.

LAST CHANCE PLANS, Love Plans Series, book 10

At twenty, Rick Lambert ran away from the US to escape the accusations hurled at him. Fifteen years later, he returns to settle in Fort Lauderdale. His mother agrees to live with him and take care of his two sons who have been raised by nannies and boarding schools.
Flight attendant, Madison Howell loves nothing more than her job. During a flight from Dubai to Miami, she meets the authoritative businessman and his mother. The sweet old lady befriends her, and Rick doesn’t hide his attraction. When his children come home, Madison finds herself entangled with the Lamberts way too often. As she helps the young boys adapt to their new life, she falls in love with their gorgeous father, but she’s not sure she really knows Rick, her charming lover. A loving son and dedicated father but also a womanizer and tough businessman with a hidden past.
When people from long-ago cross his path, secrets are revealed, threatening to ruin their romance. Now mature and powerful, Rick confronts his enemies to clear his name, but will it cost him the woman he loves?