Hi Teenybean,
How long it takes to create the SmartList depends heavily on the information you are wanting to display. How many tables are included, are the joins complicated, do you need to create any Unions, does a view need to be created, are you looking for summary information, how many 'go to' actions you have, etc. etc.
I have created SmartLists that have taken that long. The actual creation of the SmartList isn't that big of a deal, it's querying the database that can eat up the time.
Kind regards,
Leslie