It’s May Day, a new month, the day before the Kentucky Derby and the beginning of the writer’s conference I help plan. Odds are, I’d have to concentrate on just one of these today. But odds are made to be beaten, a lesson I learned at my mother’s knee.

Mom was a long-shot bettor. She would have loved the field this year. There are two gray horses (her favorites) with odds of 33-1 and 50-1. One of them, Pavlovian, even has a one-word name, another of Mom’s betting criteria.

It’s highly doubtful that either of these steeds will win. But that’s beside the point when you’re the last of the two-dollar bettors, as Mom was. (Can you even place a two dollar bet anymore?)

Today, I’m betting that the Washington Writers Conference will begin beautifully, will engage, stimulate and encourage the more than 200 writers who’ll attend. And that’s a winning proposition for sure.