TRICK 01.
—Note what you liked about that book. Note vocabulary that makes you go, "sweet!"/nod your head impressively. Note everything.
I love writing things down. I do it all the time, for any reason, anywhere. So, after reading something incredible, I write down my favorite things about it so that I can use a similar idea in my own writing.
If you write down sick vocabulary, make an effort to use these new vocabularies (even if it doesn't fit in a work; create another document and write a sentence using it!). That's one way to show your improvement, and it feels so good to develop right before your very eyes.