I’m finally happy with the way my artwork looks (well, kind of).

For those of you who are brand new or who have just subscribed recently, welcome! My name is Laura-Louise and I am an indie author, illustrator, and cartoonist from Ireland. For the past three years now, I’ve been writing and illustrating a light novel series called Lasair-Fhíona. It’s an Irish young adult superhero crime thriller series that I’ve been writing on and off since I was 12. It’s about a teenage girl living in Dublin in the 1990s who fights crime as a pyrokinetic superhero. I’ll be publishing the first book in this series later this year.

What’s Going On With My Art Style?

For the last year or so, I’ve been struggling to make my art style look smooth and you know, good. I’m sure most artists can relate to this struggle but I think I’ve come to the point when I draw something, I don’t hate it. I can see the improvement and how my artwork has evolved which keeps me striving to get better.

I’ve come to learn a solid set of techniques and a manner of drawing that when the illustration comes together, it feels like me. I’ve spent a lot of time this year experimenting with colours and lighting and brushing techniques to make my characters and backgrounds pop a bit more. And overall, I’m pretty happy with the results.

Am I totally happy with the way my artwork looks all of the time now? No, absolutely not.

I still have so much to learn about drawing and there are still times when my artwork looks wonky and flat and unpolished. Other than that, I’m really proud with how my art style has developed this year. I’ve spent so much time in the last four years exploring various styles and aesthetics, trying to figure out what I love and what I don’t love, what works for me and what doesn’t work for me. Once I started drawing in this new style, everything just clicked into place. The drawings would turn out exactly how I pictured them in my head.

In a way, I kind of like that my artwork doesn’t look “perfect”. I like the roughness and awkwardness of how I draw because it feels more like me. It took me a long time to figure out my illustration style but we’re finally here. I’m going to keep trying my best to draw in this way and engrain these techniques deep into my brain so that when I sit down to draw, it will become second nature.

An Exciting Light Novel Update!

I am currently in the final round of edits on my light novel, Lasair-Fhíona, and its been going really well. I usually dread the editing process when it comes to writing but editing this novel has been so much fun. I think its because I love this story and these characters so much that the editing process has become such a breeze. I love writing in this world and I can’t wait to share this story with all of you soon once its published.

So what’s the big exciting update regarding my light novel?

In September, I will be running a Kickstarter campaign for Lasair-Fhíona! Its still in the beginning stages right now but I will notify all of you here on my Substack and on my socials when the campaign is ready to be launched!

And that’s about it! Thank you so much to everyone who has subscribed lately! It means the world to me!

If you would like to support me and my work (and especially if you would like to support a lovely Irish-owned independent bookshop), you can order a copy of my queer YA litRPG fantasy novel, Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM, from Buythebook.ie!

Thank you so much for reading and I’ll see you soon!

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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I never wanted a job.

The idea of going to the same place every day, doing labour for someone else, just to earn money never appealed to me. Growing up, people would often ask me - “what do you want to do when you’re older?”

And my answer would always be: I want to be a writer, an artist, a storyte…

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Hello friends!

If you’re brand new here, my name is Laura-Louise and I am an indie author, illustrator, and cartoonist from Ireland. Today we’re going to talk about how much money I made during my first six months of self-publishing my queer YA litRPG fantasy novel, Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM.

I published my novel on 1st December 2025 …

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Here are some comic pages and promotional artwork I made recently featuring the two main lesbian characters from my queer YA litRPG fantasy novel, Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM.

If you’d like to support me and my work, you can order a copy from Buythebook.ie

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For May, I had originally planned to start editing the fifth draft of my superhero light novel Lasair-Fhíona but then I got this idea for a cute wholesome Final Fantasy X fan comic…

So for the month of May I’m going to work on that instead!

I’m in the mood to work on something fun, silly, and indulgent.

Writing fanfiction can be a nice palette cleanser in-between working on original projects. Its really cosy, enjoyable, and not super challenging because you’re playing around with a familiar group of characters and a world that already exists. And since the 25th anniversary of my favourite JRPG of all-time, Final Fantasy X, is coming up in July, I got this idea for a short story I wanted to write set within that world.

Why I Love Final Fantasy X

I’m a huge fan of the Final Fantasy video game franchise but Final Fantasy X (as well as its sequel, Final Fantasy X-2) are very special games for me in particular. Final Fantasy X has such a rich and captivating story and the world of Spira is one of my favourite fictional worlds. Its so well developed and the narrative is still so thought-provoking to this day. It also features some of my favourite characters, my favourite turn-based battle system, and my favourite romance of all-time between Yuna and Tidus.

The themes of tradition, religion, sacrifice, acceptance, and existentialism explored in this game are still so powerful. I still get chills whenever I listen to the soundtrack or whenever I think back to the first time I played the game as a child during the summer of 2002. In my opinion, Final Fantasy X will always be a masterpiece and has one of the most memorable and emotionally impactful stories I’ve ever experienced.

I want to do something special for the 25th anniversary this year so I’m writing and illustrating this short fan comic to show my appreciation and love for my favourite video game of all-time. I just really want to revisit these characters and write a happy, sweet story for them.

And if you’ve ever played Final Fantasy X, you know these characters deserve a happy ending!

New Art Style, Who Dis?

I’ve also been testing out a new art style for this fan comic. I wanted to draw the FFX characters in this cutesy, whimsical kawaii style so I’ve been messing around with this new look. I’m having so much fun experimenting with a fresh new illustration style for a change.

My aim is get the comic done by July just in time for the 25th anniversary which I think is doable because its a very short and sweet story. I’m really excited to share it once its all finished because its the most fun I’ve had working on a comic in a long time.

Here is a sneak peek of the cover.

The name of the comic is called ‘Final Fantasy X: Forever And Always’ and it takes place one year after the events of Final Fantasy X-2.

Thank you so much for being here. If you’d like to support me and my work, you can order a copy of my queer YA litRPG fantasy novel, Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM, from Buythebook.ie!

Thank you as always for taking the time to read this blog post!

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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This week marks the 20th anniversary of when I wrote the very first draft of the first book in my Irish teen superhero series, Lasair-Fhíona!

Unfortunately I didn’t salvage any of the original Lasair-Fhíona comic strips I made during my childhood but I did find an old drawing of the main character from 2006. Its so surreal to look back on that drawing and see how much my art style has evolved and how much the character’s design has changed. In the original first draft of the story that I wrote back in 2006, Lasair-Fhíona wore a light golden blonde wig instead of a bright orange wig and wore a red hood. I was a big Disney Channel kid and I’m pretty sure watching Hannah Montana obsessively every day after school definitely influenced some of the character’s visual design.

Sailor Moon, Tomb Raider, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer were also huge influences.

If you’re a subscriber of mine, you probably already know that I’ve been writing the Lasair-Fhíona series on and off since I was twelve years old. For those of you who are new, Lasair-Fhíona is an Irish young adult superhero series that follows the adventures of a teenage girl living in 1990s Dublin and who juggles a double life as a superhero. I am in the middle of revising the first book in the series and I will be publishing it later this year as a light novel.

Back in 2006, when I was twelve years old, I created this quirky superhero series that has held my heart ever since. I filled sketchbooks and notebooks with comic strips, drafts, drawings, and rough outlines surrounding this story. My whole life I dreamed about becoming an author but I also dreamed about being the author of this fun action-packed superhero book series that people would fall in love with.

The first couple of drafts of the book were definitely more lighthearted and zany compared to how grounded and gritty the story is now. Obviously I’m no longer twelve and the story and the characters have evolved quite a bit, not just in terms of design but in terms of personality too. But overall the bones of the original plot and characters are still there.

My teenage years were some of the toughest years of my life - from being bullied at school to having very strict religious parents to struggling with my classes (especially maths since I suffered with dyscalculia). Looking back on that time now as a 32 year old, I realized just how unhappy I was. Writing this series and creating this entire fictional world with my own characters and villains, it provided me with so much comfort and escapism. As a depressed socially awkward teen, scribbling down these stories and drawing these characters became my lifeline.

I have written many books that are near and dear to my heart but Lasair-Fhíona is the book series I’ve worked on for most of my life. Its safe to say that she is my golden goose. I know they say you shouldn’t pick favourites but Lasair-Fhíona is most definitely my favourite of my book babies.

The first rough draft was written in 2006. I pretty much drafted the entire five book series between 2006 and 2008. And I still own the revised draft of the first book that I wrote back in 2009!

Finding old manuscripts is so nostalgic and delightful in a way because its so nice to look back on my early writings. Yes, its very amateurish and silly to read now but I love looking back over stories I wrote when I was younger. I remember just how passionate I was when I was writing this series for the first time and how much I adored my characters. They felt so real to me.

The origins of Lasair-Fhíona came from a short story I wrote in school. It was 2006, I was twelve years old, and my teacher asked the class to write a short story called “superhero for a day”. I came up with a superhero character with fire powers. Her original name was Flame-Girl and she wore a blonde wig, a red hood, and she obtained her powers from a meteorite.

The early draft of the story felt more like Tomb Raider fanfiction in a way because the main character (who was named Sunny at the time) was an archeologist/treasure hunter femme fatale type who comes across this strange meteorite while exploring this spooky Peruvian island. After she is exposed to the meteor rock, it gives her these pyrokinetic powers.

As a huge Tomb Raider and X-Men fan, you can definitely see the Dark Phoenix inspiration in the original Flame-Girl character design as well as the sassy archeologist vibe of Lara Croft in Sunny’s personality. Plus I always thought the idea of an archeologist superhero sounded really interesting. Kind of like if Lara Croft had superpowers and dressed up in a blonde wig and a red hood.

Over time, I changed her name to Lasair-Fhíona because I wanted to set the story in Ireland. I ended up changing around the origin story and having her powers relate more to Irish mythology. I changed around her costume and her overall aesthetic to make her look more like a classic superheroine. I removed the casual hood and blonde wig and replaced them with a cape and an orange wig.

Lasair-Fhíona will always be a special childhood project for me. Writing this series as a teenager had such a significant impact on me and it really encapsulated a period of my teenage years when I would write and draw for myself without caring about the judgement of others. When I think about my teenage memories, most of them are of me writing about Lasair-Fhíona in my bedroom, drawing Lasair-Fhíona comic strips in my sketchbook, and making Lasair-Fhíona writing playlists on my laptop.

Its insane to think that its been twenty years since I started working on this series and I can’t wait to finally publish the first Lasair-Fhíona book this year.

If you’d like to support me and my work, you can order a copy of my queer YA litRPG fantasy novel, Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM, from Buythebook.ie, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org, and Kobo!

Thank you so much for reading!

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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I DID IT!!!

I FINISHED REVISING THE 4TH DRAFT OF MY LIGHT NOVEL LAST NIGHT!

If you’re brand spanking new, my name is Laura-Louise and I am an indie author, illustrator, and cartoonist from Ireland. I’m currently working on an Irish YA superhero light novel called Lasair-Fhíona which has been a huge passion project of mine. It’s a book series I’ve been writing on and off since I was 12 years old. I’m 32 now and I’m planning on finally publishing the first book in the series later this year.

After a month of tight deadlines, executing notes, and working on illustrations to include in the book, it feels so great to finally finish this draft. I rewrote a lot of new scenes in act 3 and edited the epilogue multiple times and then I did a thorough read-through of the entire book. Reaching the end was so exhilarating. It’s always such a euphoric feeling when you finish a project and this one was no different.

Even though I’ve finished revisions, this book is still nowhere near ready for publication (obviously.) I still need to do a couple of rounds of heavy edits on the draft and cut down on words and just tighten up some scenes. As much as I love this book, I need to take a break from it for a few weeks so I’m going to take a much needed writing hiatus for the month of April and come back to it in May.

I love how this draft came together and I do think it’s one of the better stories I’ve written thus far. I think the writing is pretty tight. After revising it this time around, there is so much more about the book that I love now. I’m feeling very optimistic about it. I do think it’s really strong on both a plot level and a line level. I think the mystery plot and the romance plot are pretty strong and I love how all the plot threads tie together. It’s definitely the best version of the story so far since I started rewriting it back in 2023.

I feel very proud of all the work I’ve done on it. Back in 2023, I did actually query this book to literary agents and even though it did get a full request from one agent, they ended up turning it down due to pacing problems and issues with the dialogue not being realistic and such. And I totally agree with them!

I think if that agent were to read it now, they would feel that the book is so much cleaner and stronger than it used to be. Everything seems so much tighter and better.

Looking back, I’m so glad that literary agent rejected it because the book is so much better now - especially when it comes to the pacing and the dialogue. Those were the weakest parts of the earlier drafts and now they’re so much cleaner than they used to be. I kept in all of the things that make the book what it is and honed in on the essence of the story and the themes, and I think it works so well now.

Sometimes rejection can be a good thing.

Rejection is redirection.

I’m so excited to start working on edits soon. This story is very close to my heart. It’s about fighting for what you believe in, finding people who understand you like nobody else, grief, revenge, corruption of power, inheritance, legacy, and how our choices—not our destinies—shape who we are. It explores what it means to be an Irish queer teen navigating school, friendships, and new relationships during the tumultuous social and political shift in 1990s Ireland. There’s also an enemies to lovers romance and lots and LOTS of Irish pop culture references.

If you’d like to support me and my work, you can order a copy of my queer YA litRPG fantasy novel, Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM from Buythebook.ie, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org, and Kobo!

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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Happy March!

January and February were amazing writing months for me. I went on a mini writing retreat during January/February and I managed to write SO MUCH during that trip. I am now revising act 2 of my Irish YA superhero light novel, Lasair-Fhíona.

If you’re brand new here and don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, Lasair-Fhíona is an Irish YA superhero light novel series that I’ve been working on since I was 12 years old. I’m 32 now and I am currently in the process of revising/editing the first book in the series with the intention of publishing it later this year.

So far I am about two chapters into act 2 but I’m making it my goal to finish revising both act 2 and 3 (basically the full draft) by the end of March. The reason for this is because I’m moving to Scotland in April so I would really like to get as much revision done on my light novel as possible before I move over.

I already shared this over on Instagram and TikTok but I figured I would share it on here too for those of you who don’t follow me on those platforms. I illustrated a mock-up book cover for the Lasair-Fhíona light novel just for fun.

This new revamped version of the story reads more like an action-adventure superhero crime thriller and it does deal with a lot of serious subject matter like grief, drug abuse, violent street gangs, corrupt government figures/cops, organized crime, and generational trauma. I wanted to illustrate a book cover that would give off those dark gritty noir crime thriller vibes. This isn’t the official book cover but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

After finishing my revisions on act 1, I actually started outlining the other two books in the series because I had always intended this series to be a trilogy. Even when I was writing about these characters as a kid, I always knew Lasair-Fhíona was going to be a three-part series. However, that can always change if I end up adding more content to the series later on.

While I was on my writing retreat, I was mostly figuring out what the framework for the book series was going to be - is the story at it’s core a superhero crime thriller? How is the story going to encompass all of the bullet points and beats that make it fit into that genre?

And as I was asking myself these questions, I thought back to various book trilogies and movie trilogies I enjoy. For example, the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy is one that comes to mind a lot for me.

The first Spider-Man movie is the origin story with Peter figuring out who he is and discovering that with great power comes great responsibility, etc. Spider-Man 2 takes those same themes but they are now dialed up to the max and the stakes are even higher because during the course of the second movie, Peter’s responsibilities as Spider-Man are causing severe problems and struggles for him in his personal life. This is the consequence of the choice he made at the end of the first movie to accept the blessing and the curse that comes with being Spider-Man.

In order to figure out the heart and framework for Lasair-Fhíona, I actually went back and rewatched the Matrix trilogy. I absolutely adore the world and the lore of the Matrix universe so much so it was really interesting to rewatch those movies through a writer/plotter lens.

As I was watching all three Matrix movies, I was studying each scene and each plot point and each story beat while correlating them with the three act story structure. It was really fascinating to do that because what I learned was: if you’re looking at the Matrix trilogy like a book trilogy - the first movie feels more like a stand-alone novel with series potential while the Matrix Reloaded and the Matrix Revolutions are basically a duology. The Hunger Games trilogy also follows this pattern too. The first Hunger Games book could easily stand on it’s own with no continuation while the other two books are connected to each other. The end of Catching Fire easily slides into the beginning of Mockingjay.

This is how I’m outlining my superhero trilogy - book 1 is a more focused single arc stand-alone story while the next two books are more heavily connected to each other and are pretty much one big arc but cut in half. This method has made plotting out the three books together much easier and more fun.

And that’s about it. I’m really enjoying revising/editing this book and I’m looking forward to sharing more updates with you all again soon.

Thank you so much for reading!

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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If you’re brand new here, my name is Laura-Louise and I am an indie author, illustrator, and cartoonist from Ireland. If you would like the chance to win a signed copy of my queer YA litRPG fantasy novel, Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM, you can enter this fun book giveaway down below!

To enter to win, all you have to do is:

• Like this post

• Comment with your favourite video game

• Share this post

This giveaway ends on 28th February! Good luck!

If you’re already a subscriber of mine, you probably already know that I am currently working on a YA Irish superhero light novel called Lasair-Fhíona which is set to release later this year. February has been a very productive month thus far so I wanted to share some new updates on the project with you all.

You can read my latest light novel update here:

As stated in my last update, Lasair-Fhíona will no longer be a graphic novel and I am now rewriting it as a light novel which I think works much better. And since it’s now being written in a light novel format, I’ve decided to split the first book in the series into two parts. This way the first book I’ll be releasing this year will be much shorter which works well since the average word count for light novels generally ranges from 50k-60k words (maybe 70k words?) This is based on the presence of illustrations that will be featured in the book too.

New Character Designs + Name Changes

I wasn’t entirely happy with the original character designs so I wanted to tweak them a bit and I think the new designs work well with the style/feel of the story much better. I really enjoy drawing these new designs and because the novel is set during the early 1990s, I wanted the new character designs to resemble that time period.

As for name changes, I’m changing the name of the main character, Izzy Keegan, to Kayleigh so her name is now Kayleigh Keegan. I just prefer that name and I think it suits her better. It’s also one of my favourite Irish girl names. I’m a little annoyed I didn’t name her Kayleigh from the beginning but since I’m completely reviving this project with a brand new look and vibe, I think changing her name felt like the right thing to do.

I’ve made a few other name changes too but I think I’m going to wait a little bit longer before I share any serious massive changes. I’m still in the secretive phase of this project so once I have a bit more work done on the light novel, I will share more in-depth details about the plot, the villains, and the characters.

Thank you as always for taking the time to read this blog post. I really appreciate you being here. Thank you so much for your support! I’ll see you all next time!

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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Back in 2019, I finished drafting my first proper novel in about eight years. It was an adult literary romance novel and so I decided to begin submitting the novel to literary agents in hopes of securing a publishing deal.

The following year while I was querying that novel, I began working on a high fantasy vampire trilogy inspired by Irish mythology whi…

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I hope you are all having a wonderful start to the new year.

As mentioned in my previous blog post, I’m making big changes to my graphic novel. For those of you who are new here, my name is Laura-Louise and I am an Irish author, illustrator, and cartoonist who has been working on a graphic novel called Lasair-Fhíona since the beginning of 2025. It’s an Irish YA superhero series that I’ve been writing on and off since I was 12 years old. I always wanted to publish it as a graphic novel but honestly, I’ve been struggling to make it work in that format.

My Ongoing Struggles With This Project

So what’s the problem? Why am I struggling so much with this project?

First of all, to be completely honest, I just don’t think I have the artistic skill to illustrate an entire graphic novel.

I finished illustrating the first two chapters last year and I just wasn’t happy with how they turned out. I just didn’t like the overall look of those pages and the process gradually became very tedious and I started to lose motivation to keep going with it. Personally, I just don’t think my drawing skills are good enough to pull off an entire graphic novel. At least not right now.

The graphic novel was going to be told through the 9 panel grid and at the beginning, I was having so much fun with it. But as I was working on the storyboards, I began removing aspects of the story that weren’t working and in doing so, I wasn’t adding anything to make the story stronger or to make it flow better within the 9 panel grid format.

The Plan Going Forward

So what’s the plan? Where am I at with this project if it’s not going to be a graphic novel anymore?

In September 2025, I finished revising the original novel that I rewrote back in 2023. And what I’m doing now is restructuring it into a light novel with brand new character designs and some name changes.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term ‘light novel’, it’s basically an illustrated novel. So it’s going to be a novel with both prose and illustrations sprinkled throughout. Right now, I’m revising and editing the novel while working on the illustrations that will be included in the finished project.

It will be published this year - I’m gearing towards an autumn release!

So the plan for this year is get this book done by the end of the summer and publish it in the autumn. I’ve been working on this story for so long and I just really want to share it with the world finally and release it in the best quality that I can. I’m really happy with how it’s coming along and I can’t wait to share more updates soon!

Thank you as always for reading!

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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• Buy Me A Coffee

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• Become a paid subscriber (where you’ll receive full access to bonus exclusive content I only send to paid subscribers)

If this is your first time stumbling upon my newsletter, my name is Laura-Louise and I am an author, illustrator, and cartoonist from Ireland. Welcome! If you’re looking for a WRECK-IT RALPH x THE LEGEND OF ZELDA video game fantasy epic with classic SNES/PlayStation 1 vibes, my YA queer litRPG fantasy novel, Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM, is now available for purchase!

You can grab a copy from Buythebook.ie!

If you’d like to know how my 2025 went, you can read all about it here:

So What Are My Plans For 2026?

Balance and consistency.

Those are the two words I’m going into 2026 with in mind.

I don’t have that many flashy or dramatic goals. I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and stay on course. Despite the many wonderful things that happened in 2025, I really struggled to stay consistent and find balance. I really want to find more balance and consistency in 2026 in all aspects of my life - health/fitness, creative, personal, professional, etc.

I’m leaving 2025 with such a good feeling. I’m feeling very hopeful about what this new year will bring. Like I mentioned before, I really like my routine and the habits I’ve built. Yes, I would love to incorporate new habits but I also want to maintain my grip on everything I’ve accomplished in 2025.

Writing Goals

As for writing projects I want to finish in 2026, the big one is my graphic novel. For those of you who are new here, I’ve been working on a graphic novel called Lasair-Fhíona (pronunciation: loss-air-feena). It’s an Irish YA superhero comic book series set in Dublin during the 1990s. It’s a story that means a great deal to me because I’ve been writing it on and off since I was twelve years old and it’s always been a dream of mine to publish it as a comic book.

In September 2024, I began posting episodic short stories centered around the characters from my Lasair-Fhíona series in the form of a monthly webcomic which I have now cancelled. However, I am now rewriting the first book in the Lasair-Fhíona series as a light novel which I’m planning to publish later this year. I’m going to discuss this in more detail in a future blog post but that’s where I am with the project right now. I’m really excited to share some updates with you all very soon!

So I mentioned in my last blog post that I had been writing a spicy superhero rom-com novel and I think I’m in the mood to jump back into it again.

I was having a lot of fun writing it and I might make it a goal this year to finish writing the first draft. It’s a silly, smutty, goofy romantic comedy set in a Silver Age style 1960s retro-futuristic London where a female alien superhero ends up falling for her egomaniacal tech billionaire supervillain arch-nemesis. It’s basically like if Superman and Lex Luthor had a steamy enemies-to-lovers romance.

Will I ever publish it? Most definitely because I know smutty enemies-to-lovers romance novels are big sellers right now. It’s been a lot of fun to write so we’ll see where it goes.

I don’t have a proper name for it just yet so right now the working title is ‘No Capes!’

Art Goals

I finished my sketchbook in 2025 after working in it for about three years so in 2026, I want to start a new sketchbook.

I love doodling in my sketchbook. It’s so therapeutic and it really helps to ease my anxiety. I would also love to try out some fun sketchbook challenges in the new year too or perhaps give Inktober a go? I’ve always wanted to participate in Inktober but I just never got the time to fully dedicate myself to it. Perhaps 2026 will be the year I finally do Inktober!

I’m pretty pleased with how far I’ve come with my artwork in the last three years but I would like to keep improving my drawing skills going into 2026. I need to get better at drawing anatomy in particular as well as backgrounds and just improving my artwork in general. I want to keep challenging myself with my drawing skills and to not feel so stressed out about drawing things that I don’t feel confident in drawing. I just want to enjoy drawing for what it is instead of letting perfectionism ruin the fun of making art.

Overall, 2026 (for me) is all about continuing what has worked well for me and to keep creating the art that makes my heart happy. And of course, to build a healthy balance of each aspect of my life and to stay consistent and not give up when things don’t go to plan.

Curveballs happen in life and we have no control over them. 2024 in particular was a terrible year for me because of so many unfortunate things that I didn’t see coming. I really hope that I won’t be looking back on 2026 with disappointment. However, I’m moving into the new year with positive energy. All I can hope for is that 2026 will be a kinder and gentler year to us all.

Thank you all so much for reading! I’d love to know what your goals are for 2026 so be sure to let me know in the comments!

Wishing you all a very happy new year!

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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I made a lot of art this year and I wrote a lot of words this year AND I published a book this year.

If you’re curious about my 2025 artist recap, buckle up because I’m going to break down my year month by month, project by project. I already have another blog post scheduled for January where I’ll be discussing my goals for the new year so stay tuned for that!

If you’re new here, my name is Laura-Louise and I am an author, illustrator, and cartoonist from Ireland. On this blog, I talk about everything related to writing, drawing, and publishing. And if you’re already a subscriber of mine, I’m so glad you’re here. Thank you for supporting me and my creative work. It means so much to me.

January

January was a very stressful and busy month for me. This was mainly because of the stress of my day job and there was also a huge snowstorm in Ireland around this time too so all in all, it was a very chaotic month. I mostly worked on my teen Irish superhero webcomic series, Lasair-Fhíona, which I have now discontinued. I’ll talk about this in more detail in my next blog post. I have a lot of exciting plans in store for the Lasair-Fhíona series in 2026 too!

February/March

February and March were fantastic months for art because things had calmed down in terms of my day job and I had a lot more time and energy to devote to writing and drawing. This was when I decided to scrap my Lasair-Fhíona webcomic series and focus on turning the series into a graphic novel. I spent a majority of February and March sketching out the storyboards for the project. I also finished my sketchbook in February after three years of filling in every page of sketches, paintings, and comic strips. February and March were two of those amazing creatively fulfilling months where the ideas just poured out of me and I was just living for those months as an artist. I was living in this beautiful creative space and it felt incredible.

April

Then we arrive at April where I finally started penciling, inking, and colouring the first two chapters of my Lasair-Fhíona graphic novel. This was also the month where my illustration style started to change. In April, I began rewatching Samurai Jack and it really inspired me to start drawing in that art style - removing the line art and focusing solely on colours and shadows and shapes.

I’ve never been good at line art and by removing the line art from my illustrations, I feel like it’s improved my artwork for the better. I feel like my artwork looks cleaner and more polished now.

May/June

All throughout May and June, I was primarily working on the Lasair-Fhíona graphic novel and practicing drawing in this new lineless illustration style I was incorporating into my comic book work.

July

In July, I took a break from working on the graphic novel and I decided to self-publish my queer YA litRPG fantasy novel, Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM. I spent a majority of July illustrating and designing the book cover as well as the back cover for the book. I decided to release the book in December to give myself enough time to focus on marketing as well as to enlist a team of ARC readers to provide early reviews for the book.

I also became very obsessed with Superman during July on account of the new movie coming out and so I drew a Superman fan comic which went viral on TikTok!

August

While I was planning the upcoming release of my book and sending out advanced review copies of the book to my ARC team, I began working on a new webcomic project in August called The Ciraluine. It was a queer Irish mythology-inspired litRPG historical fantasy webcomic set in magical ancient Ireland. I released the first chapter of this webcomic on 20th August.

September/October

Then September and October hit, and honestly, those two months in particular, I was dealing with a lot of personal life things. My mental health was at an all-time low during September and October, and I decided to cancel The Ciraluine due to a personal matter. It was a real struggle for me to show up for work and do daily tasks. During this time, I began writing a spicy superhero rom-com novel to get my mind off of some serious things I was dealing with at the time and even though I was having so much fun writing it, I ended up shelving it. This was due to another project idea I wanted to work on instead which I will discuss in more detail in my upcoming January blog post.

November

November was a very hectic month as it was the month right before my book’s official release date so I was super busy with the marketing and promotional side of publishing my book. All of November was just me planning and organizing my book launch which was held at the local independent bookshop in my hometown.

December

December - what a magical month! My book came out! I hosted my very first book launch and I got to spend it with my family, my friends, and my loved ones. One of my long-time bucket list dreams was to hold a book launch in my hometown at my favourite bookshop so it was a wonderful end to a very trying year.

I am so grateful and beyond proud of everything I accomplished this year.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this blog post. I wish you nothing but the very best wishes for 2026!

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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Hi! My name is Laura-Louise Slattery and I am the author of PRINCESS PINEBERRY AND THE SKY PALADINS OF RAM, a queer litRPG fantasy novel, and I’m excited to finally say that it’s OUT NOW!

I AM OFFICIALLY A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!!!

If you love epic fantasy quest adventure stories, found family, space pirates, animal companions, virtual fantasy worlds inspired by classic old school video games from 1990s/early 2000s (Super Mario Bros, Mega Man, Sonic The Hedgehog, Pokémon, The Legend Of Zelda, Star Fox, Final Fantasy, Xenogears, etc.), wholesome friendships, dragons, and a cute reluctant allies to lovers lesbian romance, then this is the book for you!

Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM is about a 16-bit NPC video game sprite named Princess Pineberry who wants to be the main hero of her own story. But unfortunately she’s stuck playing the damsel in distress role in her popular role-playing game. Desperate to escape her boring Mooncake Kingdom and go on her own adventures, Pineberry accidentally unleashes a dangerous glitch into her game which results in an instant ‘Game Over’ for herself and everyone she holds dear.

Now trapped in RAM (Random Access Memory), Pineberry finds herself on the verge of deletion along with every other video game sprite who have also been dumped into the desolate netherworld of the computer console’s hard-drive. Teaming up with a group of unlikely comrades in the form of Captain Sigrid and her crew of sky paladins, Pineberry joins in their battle against an army of sinister digital monsters called ‘sweepers’—garbage disposal computer programs who are tasked with cleaning up the system and deleting unwanted junk files. Now a junk file on the run, Pineberry and the sky paladins refuse to go out without a fight and thus Pineberry embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, finding real friendship and love, and discovering the world outside her video game for the first time as well as discovering her true self.

Princess Pineberry And The Sky Paladins Of RAM is now available to purchase in e-book and paperback from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.

For those of you who don’t want to buy books from Amazon and would like to support a lovely small Irish-owned independent bookshop, you can purchase my book from Buythebook.ie

I hope you all enjoy reading Pineberry’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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Read more

So today’s blog post is going to be super quick. I just wanted to share some exciting publishing news that I haven’t been able to tell you that I can FINALLY tell you now! I can officially announce that I have a book coming out this year!

My new novel, PRINCESS PINEBERRY AND THE SKY PALADINS OF RAM, is now available for pre-order here!

PRINCESS PINEBERRY AND THE SKY PALADINS OF RAM is a middle grade litRPG fantasy novel that I’ve been working on for the last three and a half years and I’m so excited to be finally publishing it! It follows Princess Pineberry, a video game NPC sprite from a fantasy role-playing game who is sick and tired of being the fragile damsel in distress, always getting kidnapped and rescued. Thus she embarks on an epic adventure of her own alongside a crew of renegade video game sprites who call themselves ‘sky paladins’ to discover what lies outside of her video game world as well as love, friendship, and what it means to live on her own terms. At it’s core, this is a story about what it means to be human from the perspective of someone who is not human.

Here is the official plot summary:

For decades, Princess Pineberry has played the fragile damsel in distress in her popular fantasy role-playing video game.

Growing tired of the same old routine of being kidnapped and rescued, Pineberry wishes for nothing more than to fight her own battles and explore the world outside of her beloved Mooncake Kingdom. When she gets kidnapped (again), she accidentally activates a dangerous glitch which causes a storm of bugs to crash the game, resulting in an instant 'Game Over' for herself and everyone she holds dear.

Awakening from her demise, Pineberry finds herself in the dark recesses of RAM (Random Access Memory); a desolate world within the game console's hard-drive, populated by other video game sprites on the verge of deletion.
The memory stock of this world will soon be wiped clean by garbage disposal programs called 'sweepers'. And just like every other sprite in RAM, Pineberry is a junk file on the run. However, she is not ready to just disappear forever and refuses to go out without a fight. It's not game over just yet.

Teaming up with some unlikely friends in the form of Captain Sigrid and her crew of sky paladins, Pineberry joins in their battle against the sweepers and their leader, a corrupt software who wishes to unleash destruction upon both the computer and player realms. With the help of the sky paladins and her new-found strength and bravery, Pineberry embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, discovering the world outside her video game for the first time and who she really is.

PRINCESS PINEBERRY AND THE SKY PALADINS OF RAM is a stand-alone litRPG fantasy adventure novel for all ages inspired by classic SNES RPGs like CHRONO TRIGGER, THE SECRET OF MANA, and THE LEGEND OF ZELDA. Combining the intergalactic space pirate adventures of TREASURE PLANET and the whimsical video game charm of WRECK-IT RALPH, PRINCESS PINEBERRY AND THE SKY PALADINS OF RAM is the perfect read for both hardcore gamers and non-gamers alike.

If this sounds like your cup of tea or if you know someone who might enjoy a fun whimsical litRPG fantasy adventure novel like this, consider pre-ordering! The book will be officially released on 1st December just in time for Christmas!

As of right now, you can only pre-order the e-book version. The paperback version won’t be available until 14th October (because I screwed up the formatting and I need to fix the sizing/alignment issues.) If you’d prefer to purchase the physical paperback version of the book, you will have to wait until then but I will obviously notify you all when it’s available.

You can also add the book on Goodreads if you like!

I’m really excited (and terrified) about finally publishing my book and getting it out there into the world after all these years.

Thank you so much for reading!

Love,

Laura-Louise xoxo

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First of all, I’m so tired because I’ve been working around the clock to get these pages done but I’m so happy to finally share the release date with you all today.

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