Excuse my ignorance, but can you make a reservation at your home resort before 11 months? I am somewhat new to this.
No, the earliest you can book a
DVC resort using your points is 11 months from your check-in day. That would be using your home resort priority for the resort at which you own the points you're using for the stay.
For non-home resorts, the earliest you can book is 7 months from your check-in day.
When you call exactly on that date (either at 11 months or 7 months, depending on whether or not it's a home resort), you can book the first 7 nights. If your desired stay is more than 7 nights, you must call back the next day to add a night onto the end of your reservation, and continue to do so until you have the entire stay booked. (You can only add nights on in this manner by calling Member Services. You can't do it online.) The other option would be to initially book the reservation (by phone or online) on a day that is within 7 days of the last night of your stay. In that case, you could book the entire stay at once.
When booking online, the date doesn't roll at Midnight. The next day's check-in date isn't available to be booked in the system until 8am Eastern Time. Member Services opens at 9am Eastern to take phone bookings.
If you look at the home page of the member web site, it will tell you the dates you can book.