Practical Exercise will be more involved than the Eclipse books. It will be more like MinuteGirls in complexity, even if it is all told from the perspective of Adara Triskittenion speaking in first person. The useful reading was Hildreth, History of the United States, especially his first three volumes, taking us from 1500 up to the adoption of the Constitution. At a guess 200,000 words will do it. Perhaps not this year.
I am currently busy creating a text bible, as otherwise I will lose track of names.