Rejection letters are still rejection letters, though. I don't know if people ever get so blasé about them that they can just let them roll off their backs. I actually kept my first rejection letter for a long time, just as a reminder: what we think is perfect doesn't always work for everyone else. What we think is pretty good doesn't necessarily ever work for anyone else.

I like your lesson about listening to your intuition, though. I've read story after story that feels like it was rushed to be finished, and that always shows. You know you're good at your craft. There are hundreds of thousands of people who are good at this craft. Learning to listen, being true to what you want instead of what you feel like you have to do in a hurry... these are things that set excellent writers apart from the merely good ones.

Or something. I'm babbling. Writer's prerogative.