Congratulations on your many victories! I have found that submitting and writing are two different processes, and they don't mix well. Sending work out into the world is an admin sort of task--and I couldn't write while I was doing it, and I never let the rejections and near-misses inform the work. Once you get a lot of them, as everyone does, they will seem completely arbitrary and contradictory. When they came in, that was more admin work to log and nothing more. I looked to work that nourished my process to show me how to be better and that has worked out well for my writerly longevity!
Congratulations on your many victories! I have found that submitting and writing are two different processes, and they don't mix well. Sending work out into the world is an admin sort of task--and I couldn't write while I was doing it, and I never let the rejections and near-misses inform the work. Once you get a lot of them, as everyone does, they will seem completely arbitrary and contradictory. When they came in, that was more admin work to log and nothing more. I looked to work that nourished my process to show me how to be better and that has worked out well for my writerly longevity!