How to read in order to write 💡

How? By paying attention to what you are reading and purposefully choosing what to steal for your writing.

In my "Writing Incubator" workshop yesterday, 20 people came together to steal and practice a bunch of patterns for writing. Here is just a tiny glimpse (with 22 pages of content, I had trouble choosing).

IELTS track (stolen from "New Scientist")

1. when combined (reduced clause)

Veronika Shirobokova: There are numerous ways to uplift one's mood, but vigorous exercise, when combined with groovy music, offers the best results.

2. rather than + -ing

Aleksandra: If you get a score lower than you expected, rather than sulking and feeling miserable, try to perceive this experience as a form of practice instead.

3. If so: clausal substitution

Irina Sidorkina: Are you struggling to come up with ideas for your essay? If so, it's high time you started reading good stuff—Irina keeps advising to.

CPE, social media track (stolen from "The Guardian")

1. Brackets, a self-answering question

nadya: If you want to get IELTS 9 (who doesn't?), then you need to pull yourself together and stop making excuses. sorry.

Lena Look: If you want to get IELTS 9 (who doesn't ?), then you need to enroll on Irina Lutsenko's course and follow her instructions ))))

2. Polysyndeton (overuse of a conjunction)

Aysel: So, you sit down to write an essay. You are determined. You are focused. But then, one by one, you face a whole host of distractions—kids and cooking and the boiling kettle and pets fighting and floors creaking.

Tatiana Zemlerub: So, you sit down to write an essay. You are determined. You are focused. But then, one by one, you face a whole host of distractions—kids and cooking and cats and students and dirty floors and Carrie Bradshow.

3. Asyndeton (omission of a conjunction)

Anastasia B: So you sit down to write your essay. You're determined. You're focused. But then, one by one, you're faced with a series of distractions—a dog with puppies on the street, a stranger walking past, a neighbor backing out of his garage.

💡 Your turn. Finish the sentences frames with your own ideas:

1️⃣ If you get a score lower than you expected, rather than ... ing,

2️⃣ Are you struggling to come up with ideas for your essay? If so, ...

3️⃣ If you want to get IELTS 9 (who doesn't?), then ...

4️⃣ So, you sit down to write an essay. You are determined. You are focused. But then, one by one, you face a whole host of distractions— ...