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.
