Holiday seasons are quite different from what they were before now that I have two little kids at home. With an extra load of responsibilities and work added to my life, trying to do anything truly productive in the illustration / freelance department is close to impossible. Today, I’ve emerged from the Thanksgiving break wave, and now, with a little bit of a window, I can try to mentally prepare for the Christmas/New Years tsunami.
Sometimes you do manage to find the time, or energy, or brain power to get something creative done (like sketching the kids while they’re destroying the house), but (in my experience) the big old burnout would be waiting right around the corner. After the few years of me trying to navigate this, I can say with assurance that letting go of any guilt for not doing much (or any!) creative work during time like this is a step number one in keeping the sanity.
It took me a while come to the understanding that the idleness, which before felt like wasting time and crushing the momentum, is not just beneficial, but an important part of the creative process. The über-talented illustrator and author Roman Muradov explores this point extensively in his book "On Doing Nothing: Finding Inspiration in Idleness”
P.s. Audiobooks and podcasts are extra useful for the times like these. Currently, I have been really enjoying the new series by the Freakonomics Radio "How to be Creative"