Guest Post: Finding the Balance Between Play and Creative Work

Hey y’all! Below is a guest post from my fellow Merge Art Studio co-creator, Leslie. It’s all about how to fight creative burnout. If you like Leslie’s post, check out our upcoming events at Merge in Houston:

Fighting Burnout with Fun

I have spent the last ten years of my creative life totally focused on the writing craft. I volunteered with and served on the board of a literary arts nonprofit to immerse myself in the writing and the writing community. After ten years, I found that I was completely used up, burned out, and creatively empty. I was so focused on the organization and its operations that my own work had suffered. Writing became a chore that I was too tired to perform. I started neglecting my own work and my relationships—the work and the people that made me happy outside of the organization. 

In early 2023, my mother became ill, and I was forced to take a break from my public commitments to stay home with her for several months. During this time, I picked up a paintbrush and started playing with watercolors. In the early morning hours of those few months, I found what I was missing: the play. I thrive on experimenting in my creativity, and that is what I had lost. Since I left the non-profit in January of  2025, the experimentation and play have become the wind that keeps my writing flowing and my creative well full. I found, for me, the writing and the visual play work together to create a complete and manageable practice. 

In December of 2025, I partnered with Holly Lyn Walrath, another local writer, poet, and artist, to create Merge Art Studio. Merge is a space where we could hold on to that creative play through creative sessions for all levels of artists. Twice a month, we invite local creatives into the studio to play and experiment with our tools.

I developed my Painting with Unique Objects creative session for those who need a break from producing art for consumption, those who need to play, experiment, and give their creative flow a push. This is a space where you don’t need years of training with a paintbrush. You don’t need to be intimidated by trying to create the right look, use the right stroke, or put just the right pressure on the tip to create that perfect line. In this session, we are going to forget all of that by using objects you might find in your own household. All you need to participate is a willingness to experiment and have fun.

Image Caption: Artwork made with everyday objects. Above, left and right: Paintings made with marbles. Below, left and right: Paintings and collage made with a bean masher and a tiny bottle brush

About the Author

Leslie Archibald writes poetry, flash fiction, and nonfiction in a tiny home office in Houston, Texas. When she is not writing, you may find her roaming the city photographing Houston’s unique character, dabbling in watercolors, and exploring genre bending and multimedia literature. Leslie Archibald’s nonfiction and poetry have appeared in Interstellar Flight Magazine, Synkroniciti magazine, Equinox magazine, anthologies, and was included in Colorstory2023. Her photography and visual art have appeared in Equinox magazine, Synkroniciti magazine, and has shown at Sabine Street, Hardy and Nance, and the Deutser building galleries in Houston, Texas. Leslie is one half of the joint venture Merge Art Studio. Her chapbook Poems for a Broken 𝙼̶𝚊̶𝚛̶𝚛̶𝚒̶𝚊̶𝚐̶𝚎̶ Man from Finishing Line Press is now available at the Finishing Line Press website or your favorite bookstore.

Follow her on Instagram and threads at @Leslie.Archibald, Leslie McCoy Archibald on Facebook, and @lesliearchibald.bsky.social on Bluesky or visit her website at www.lesliearchibaldwriter.com.