Don't read it. Don't fix it.

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Don't read it. Don't fix it.

Don't read what you've drafted (first draft) that day or the previous day's work. Just move on. Finish the draft first.

Confused? What would be the point of tinkering with an incomplete draft?

Reading what you just wrote has a very high probability of giving you what you don't need at an early point in the writing process: discouragement. It is rough, raw, incomplete, bloated, off point, poorly written, and pretty much a mess. But this is all you can hope for in a first draft. Be happy you have that. The good news is that all of this can be fixed and subsequent drafts.

"Why would you make that recommendation?" you might ask. At this stage of the writing process, you are unlikely to read anything and from it be able to make any sound decisions about changes you want to make, things you want to add, move or polish. This is because you have no idea yet what the whole draft looks like. You are in the incomplete draft. Trying to read yesterday's material under the guise of looking for improvement/changes to make is like buying furniture for a house you haven't seen. Neither do you know what is already in those rooms or what is on the way on a moving van.

And reading yesterday's draft pages will only result in you fixing spelling, punctuation, and syntax errors. This is a huge waste of your time. Most of those premature fixes will be wiped out or no longer appropriate in later drafts. This is because you will move, add, cut, and totally rewrite most of your manuscript. So that typo you fixed on page 56 of your first draft may mean not even appear in a subsequent draft. But it was correct before you cut it. All those tinkering fixes are best done after your second or third draft. This is because by that point you have everything that is going to be in your final draft, you have cut everything that needed cutting, and you have moved what you felt needs moving by that point in the process.

The best way to get momentum going and keep it moving in a first draft is to outline as much as you can as well as you can, write fast, and move forward. It is after you have completed a full first draft that you are in the best position to make some informed decisions about what changes/improvements to make in your next draft.

In your first draft, go for speed and completion. All else will follow in due time. Trust the process.