One rejection is one opinion. Fifty rejections is a lot of practice putting your work out there.
CREATIVITY
CREATIVITY
A rejection is one person, on one day, with their own taste and their own pile to get through, and it reads like a verdict because it arrives as a result. Stack up fifty of them and something shifts. Sending stops being an event, the wait stops running your week, and you notice you have gotten much better at finishing things that are ready to send.
Keep a count instead of a grade. Aim for a number of submissions this season rather than a number of yeses, since only one of those is in your hands. When something comes back, send it somewhere else within a day.
How many times have you submitted anything to be judged?
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.