Daylight Savings Time

Posted by Josie | 9:11 AM | 6 comments »

In case there is someone who may have forgotten, today is the beginning of daylight savings time. Hopefully you set all your clocks back last night, which gained you an extra hour of sleep.

All these years, and I didn't know the reason behind Daylight Savings time. Here 'tis:

Daylight Savings Time was first introduced in the US by the well-known inventor Benjamin Franklin. In the spring of 1784, he wanted to make better use of natural daylight. But don't give him all the credit because the idea was used by ancient civilizations. They adjusted their daily schedules to match the sun's schedule. Our current US Daylight Savings time schedule current was implemented in 2007 and follows the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Nowadays, Daylight Savings Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.






If you live in Hawaii and Arizona, don't read the above. (Too late!) They are the only two of our 50 states that don't observe Daylight Savings Time.

Time is an important factor in writing a novel. For an author, keeping track of timelines and dates can be daunting. I've never used Daylight Savings time in my novels because I write Tudor and Regency romances. Perhaps a mystery author could use time, or the absence of time, to his/her advantage.

6 comments

  1. Mary Ricksen // November 2, 2014 at 12:05 PM  

    Wonder why we bother now!! I'm back sorry to have missed your great post ladies. Best wishes to you all dear friends...

  2. Mary Marvella // November 4, 2014 at 1:32 PM  

    Interesting to now why they confuse me every year. A good cause or not?

  3. debjulienne // November 6, 2014 at 7:32 PM  

    There's good and bad to the time change..it's no longer dark when I wake up, but it's pitch black before I get off work...feels like it's time to hibernate.

  4. Josie // November 9, 2014 at 10:19 AM  

    Thanks for stopping by, Mary.

  5. Josie // November 9, 2014 at 10:20 AM  

    MM,
    A good question--is it a good cause? It's always confusing.

  6. Josie // November 9, 2014 at 10:20 AM  

    Deb,
    Definitely feels like hibernating season once the days start getting dark so early.