The writer opens up her archive to L&rsquo;OFFICIEL and discusses writing her new book, out March 3.&nbsp;

It&rsquo;s not that Cazzie David always wanted to become a writer. The way she sees it, there just weren&rsquo;t any other options. &ldquo;I genuinely couldn&rsquo;t do anything else,&rdquo; says David, 31. &ldquo;I was told that my personality lent itself very well to writing, and that it might be the only way I could survive or be happy in the world.&rdquo; It makes sense that the writer and actor has a way with words; her dad is Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David, after all. &ldquo;It was an unbelievable privilege to growup surrounded by comedy giants,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;That definitely helped me find my own comedic voice.&rdquo;
From a young age, she&rsquo;s been inspired by &ldquo;women who transcended different mediums,&rdquo; such as Elaine May, Nora Ephron, Lena Dunham, and Dorothy Parker. &ldquo;You can easily identify their work because their voices are so strong,&rdquo; says David, who has infused her own deadpan delivery into a wide range of creative efforts. She wrote and starred in the web series Eighty-Sixed in 2017; published her book of New York Times&ndash;bestselling essays, No One Asked For This, in 2020; appeared in the third season of Netflix&rsquo;s The Umbrella Academy in 2022; and co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the film I Love You Forever in 2024. Along the way, she wasn&rsquo;t fazed by what people might expect of Larry David&rsquo;s kid. &ldquo;I think I was too young to actually understand that kind of pressure,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t know if that helped me or hurt me, to be honest.&rdquo;

Montblanc’s Starwalker Metal ballpoint pen, a gift from her father. Courtesy of Cazzie David.

While her dad reads all of her work, David doesn&rsquo;t ask him for career guidance often. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of like getting dating advice from a supermodel, because it doesn&rsquo;t apply to my experience,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll say, Don&rsquo;t take the notes, just quit&mdash;they won&rsquo;t want you to walk away. And it&rsquo;s like, No, they will be absolutely fine with me walking away.&rdquo; In one particularly moving moment, she received Montblanc&rsquo;s cosmos-inspired Starwalker Metal ballpoint pen as a gift from her father. David, who collects pens, writes by hand whenever she needs &ldquo;to get away&rdquo; from her phone or computer. &ldquo;It felt encouraging, and I just started crying on the spot,&rdquo; she says of first seeing the treasured item, which boasts a sleek platinum-coated design and a blue translucent dome. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing easier to lose than a pen, so I don&rsquo;t ever use it because I&rsquo;m too scared to lose it. Even though it is also the only pen I have now, considering I have lost all the others.&rdquo;

Cazzie David's new book, 'Delusions.' Courtesy of Cazzie David.

Although David never planned to put another book out into the world&mdash;&ldquo;I handle rejection badly; for me, the pinnacle of success is just not being humiliated&rdquo;&mdash;she simply had too much material not to. She writes &ldquo;whenever something sparks a crippling neurosis,&rdquo; and her second collection of essays, Delusions (St. Martin&rsquo;s Press), chronicles the full year leading up to her 30th birthday. &ldquo;Even though I didn&rsquo;t have the maturity or wisdom to make any life-changing decisions, I found that time to be really high-stakes,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s immense pressure to find not just a partner, but a life partner. To question career choices. To cling to a youthful appearance. To decide whetheror not to freeze your eggs. To wonder if you even want to have a baby, or if that&rsquo;s something you&rsquo;ve been told you&rsquo;re supposed to want. It&rsquo;s just a very interesting time, especially as a woman.&rdquo; Out March 3, Delusions has already earned one important stamp of approval: &ldquo;My dad seemed to enjoy it,&rdquo; says David. &ldquo;Although I don&rsquo;t think he can be trusted, because he&rsquo;s blinded by love.&rdquo;

Cazzie David Shares the ‘High-Stakes’ Mindset That Inspired Her New Book, ‘Delusions'

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