Whether he's living life guided by the most obscure and comical lines of scripture for The Year of Living Biblically or trying to prove a genetic relationship to the president of the United States for an upcoming tome, A.J. Jacobs’ own life has proven an endless supply of ideas about which to write. This March, the New York Times best-selling author spoke with creative writing students at Ringling College of Art and Design about how to get paid for the written word. He also sat down with SRQ to discuss how he has turned his day-to-day into artistic success. 

SRQ: How did you carve out this niche for yourself? Jacobs: I am very lucky. You are exactly right. I find something and dive in and live several months or a year doing something weird and then write about it. Now, my family doesn’t consider themselves as lucky because they don’t like being subjects of my books.  

What is it like having those near and dear to you be your sources? One of my chief nemeses in my books is my brother-in-law, an arrogant jerk. I always show him what I’m saying, but he never censors it. The only change he ever made, he actually came off worse.

Where do your ideas for books come from?  Just the idea is probably the hardest part. Very rarely do editors these days assign books and stories. I try and carve out 15 minutes a day just to generating ideas. Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, details and specificity are really the keys. I worked at a small newspaper in California for three to four years and I am very grateful that while I was there I had to report the heck out of stuff and just ask the most detailed questions, things that seem ridiculous when you have to ask them, but it always makes for better writing. 

What has been the most interesting part of visiting Sarasota?  I wish I had seen more. I am also in town visiting my mother-in-law with my three kids. So far, the most memorable place here has been Pirate’s Cove—it’s not just the mini golf, they also like feeding the alligators.

You also do other writing for magazines. How much of your livelihood is in writing books? I would say 80 percent of my job is the books. I have an upcoming one due but I don’t think I will make my deadline. For me, deadlines are not great for efficiency. I’m always terrible when it comes to career advice. I credit 90 percent of my success to luck. Sadly a lot of it is just luck, but you can create own luck. 

Do you still need to live in a publishing capital like New York City to be a successful writer?  It helps a little bit but not that much anymore. The Internet flattened things, as Tom Friedman says. In terms of becoming well known as a writer, it is the best time in the world to start from nowhere. If your Twitter feed has a lot if traction, that’s it. Editors today always ask “What’s your platform?” These days you need a podcast or radio show or Twitter feed. So that would be my suggestion, just start getting out there in social media.

And your new book, Global Family Reunion, is about the relationships of people throughout the world. Did I see you write that 44 of our US senators are at some level cousins of the president? We’re all related. That is how many we have researched so far, but there are 100 senators and I plan to show a relationship to all 100. We are all one big family.