Writerly angst

I'm feeling discouraged as a writer. It's frustrating waiting on editors to publish articles they commissioned and waiting on judges to deliberate on competition entries. I feel like I've put lots of writing and energy out there and I'm getting almost nothing in return. I can't say completely nothing because I did have some lovely comments from a friend who read my website for the first time, which is nice. However, it doesn't get me closer to being a proper, published, professional writer.
I know there were times in my early teaching career when I questioned my choice of profession and persistence to get through that initial unstable phase. At those times I had a series of strategies to help me stay the course. Now I need to come up with similar mechanisms for writing.
So I'm going to a weekend write-in with my writing group; I could browse through inspirational articles on my local writer's centre's website; maybe I'll talk to my writing group or class about my feelings – I wouldn't normally, but I'm trying to be less reserved. I could get a writing book out of the library to recharge my passion. I don't know whether I should write through these negative, self-doubting feelings. Should I keep writing until I find the wonderful, recuperating flow space that writing usually taps into or should I put aside writing for a while?
Since I'm not having a problem with not loving writing still or having writer's block, I'm not sure if the above strategies will change anything. I'm mostly struggling with the industry – the difficulty and slow pace of being published.
I've always found logical, natural consequences and motivations to be effective so maybe I should self-publish something just to feel like there's been progress.