i can't believe i didn't figure it out sooner!!
i've found a way of cutting down the time it takes to line, colour and clean up my art on gimp by using all the same tools except for one (pen/path tool, never used it before looked way too scary. i think i just mastered it in 3 minutes...) but it looks SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better too!
anyway, so now my 'simple' pictures have been cut down from 7 hours to 40 minutes so more art soon hopefully!! YAY!!! *happy dance*
also, i might be re-tweaking some of my old stories but i'm not too sure yet. i'll keep ya posted!! XD