As a bilingual artist, Lolo Zouaï uses both English and French on her new album Reverie. Sometimes it's because the meaning of a word in one language is more precise for the song, while other times the sound of the word fits the melody better. We take a deep dive into Zouaï's songwriting process and discuss why she's not good at late-night writing sessions, why the bathroom is a great place to get rid of writer's block, and why she's much more productive when working on many things at once.

Donovan Woods is the master of the pull quote when it comes to the songwriting process. His words are wise counsel for any songwriter. To wit: "A good song asks questions rather than provides wisdom," and "When I have writer's block, it's because I'm not reading enough."

I'll quibble slightly with the latter quote only because I cannot imagine Woods getting writer's block: the last three minutes of this episode are nothing but Woods listing all the authors who inspire him. And that includes the iconic poet Paul Muldoon, a recent guest on this show whom Woods and I spend a few minutes swooning over.

The latest EP by Donovan Woods is Squander Your Gifts.

I wasn't surprised when Sasha Spielberg--an actor, visual artist, and musician who records as Buzzy Lee--told me that she once cried listening to the score to E.T., one of her father's most famous movies. I was surprised, however, when she told me that she also cried watching "The Real Housewives of Orange County." But that's why this convo with Spielberg is one of the funnest I've ever done. (And yes, funnest is a word.) As you'll hear, both events are tied to her creative process.

I've interviewed many songwriters with careers in other artistic mediums (Jeff Daniels, Kevin Bacon, The Wolff Brothers, Jena Malone, among others), and I'm always interested in exploring how their processes overlap and influence each other. We go deep into that here. But we also talk about why Spielberg loves to write with a cheap old school Bic pen and why a quick, efficient shower is a boon to her songwriting process.

Spielberg's latest album as Buzzy Lee is Shoulder to Shoulder.