I'm surprised I and others missed this question earlier.

It's simple. AA will put a courtesy hold on a award booking for 2 weeks. If you don't ticket (meaning - pay with miles), the booking gets cancelled. At the end of 2 weeks you could start the process again, but remember, if the award seat availibility disappears, you're out of luck. And just because your seat got released back to inventory after the 2 week period, it does not mean it will automatically go back to award inventory.

If you really need this trip, I suggest you find a way to get the miles ASAP.