How to Best Research For/Write a TL?

Many in the AH Community are content to sit back, read and comment on one another's works, perhaps even seriously discuss and debate topics and aspects, ranging from lawyer-y technicalities to military capabilities--and that's all well and good. To draft up a full-on TL, however, really marks one's dedication and demonstratable knowledge in these subjects, and contributes a unique level of content.

Although I don't have immediate plans to do this, I hope to submit a work of my own in the future. So how would an aspiring alt-historian best go about researching and writing an ongoing TL for the AH Community to enjoy?

Thank you in advance,
Zyobot