All successful grant applicants have gotten rejections. The way to guarantee that you won't get a grant is to not apply. - Pamela O. Long

The way to advance in the field of history is to do excellent research and writing and then get it published. This takes lots of time and the more experience you have, the easier it gets. But it is never easy.

What it takes, at least from my experience, to do excellent work is long hours (not a hardship for me, I love my work), persistence, the willingness to take risks, to accept criticism, to stand by what you think if upon consideration, you believe you’re right, even if no one else believes it, and to head out into unknown places.