Is showing that you’ve resisted
The temptation to jack it all in
When rejections are all that come in
You’ve kept going, you’ve persisted!
The above says it all. Being short-listed boosts your confidence. I wish I could bottle that feeling of achievement and how good it makes you feel as a writer, it’d sell by the million! It’s also good to put on the writing CV!
Want to write better? Write more! Try different forms.
I’ve found writing short stories with a tight word count has led to my writing my Brenebourne series in a tighter fashion, which will reduce the word count there (never a bad thing as I overwrite) and I’ve found my narrative pace has picked up too.