How I Learned

How I Learned

28 x 20

Day 6: PUPS | 28 x 20

Writers, choose your own adventure

Blaise Allysen Kearsley's avatar
Blaise Allysen Kearsley
Feb 06, 2026
∙ Paid

HELLO. I’m glad you’re here. Do you know that by Saturday you’ll have COMPLETED WEEK ONE of 28 x 20? No small feat in this world. Keep showing up. You’re doing an amazing job.

Welcome to Day 6.

There’s usually a day near the end of my in-person workshops when I gather a ton of short prompts, put them on strips of paper, and place them in a coffee cup in the center of the table. I used to call it “prompts in a cup,” until someone way sharper than me said we should call it PUPS.

PUPS are miniature. No reading around it (except for my blithering on), and each one is a simple directive in one succinct sentence. The stories they yield might not be so simple. That part’s really up to you. The prompts are meant to jog a memory, give you an image, but what you come up with on the page is a matter of letting the creative mind take you where it wants to go. Staying open. Being curious. Not worrying about anything. Just for right now.

For Day 6, I’m giving you seven PUPS to choose from (look, I did a “6-7”!). As you know, here at 28 x 20, we’re guarding our 20-minute writing time with our lives. So, when you see the prompts below, don’t waste precious time trying to decide which one you like the most. Do the one that pops off the page.

We’ll be using PUPS more than once in the next couple of weeks, so you’ll get to keep what you don’t use anyway. And THAT is what they call an incredible perk.

Let’s go.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to How I Learned to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2026 Blaise Allysen Kearsley · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture