Writing the actual story—a young woman traveling to Virginia with her parents—only took a few weeks. The idea had been simmering in my brain for a few years, so getting words on the page was relatively easy. Researching and editing is a MUCH different story. (A long, tedious story that will be addressed, maybe even organized by topic, in future blog posts.)
I don’t mean to sound obtuse, but I have received a number of questions similar to this, so future blogs will address these in more detail as there isn’t one set answer. (And just so you know, answering questions about how long something takes is hard for me. I tend to do a lot of heavy-lifting in my head before I ever sit to write. Ah! That reminds me: I should write a blog post about keeping track of the gazillion Post-Its that litter my office—each containing a potential nugget for a future work. See? Yeah, that. Daily. For years.)