Brace yourself for when they come back. Those first ones are tough but DO NOT let them stop you. Do NOT. Make it a game for yourself to see what numbers you can rack up.
When I realized I'd got to the point that I was
celebrating rejection letters -- because they were proof that I'd Done the Writer Thing and submitted stories, by golly! -- I know I'd come a long way.
But it's odd how, having come a long way, I can still be exactly where I was. I'm thinking about the afternoon that I waited by the locked outgoing mailbox for the post officer to come by so I could ask them to let me write something on the envelope that I'd forgotten to write on the envelope. The guidelines
specified that I write this on the envelope. If I didn't, OMG, I'd be totally torpedoing my submission! Cue panic attack, hyperventilation, me glued to the window watching the apartment mailboxes, etc.
But it really *does* get easier. The easier just sometimes comes with flashbacks to when it was hard, is all.