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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/32671
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

For desensitizing yourself, I'd question the wisdom of that. If it's bad writing, it should hurt. Let it hurt if you want to learn from it. I purposefully read bad fiction in order to keep my critical reading skills sharp, but generally I read other people's bad fiction. I pace myself, reading a chapter a day at most. I also keep in mind the purpose for which I'm reading, and as such, I keep a list of things I didn't like and why, and things I did like and why. I usually address the things I didn't like by challenging myself to demonstrate how I'm not making the same mistake in my current WIP. In summary, crap sandwiches are best eaten in small, methodical bites. Be purposeful, and let it hurt because only discomfort inspires change.

As an aside, I'd also question the wisdom of mining for small gems. Anything pulled out of the early work and dropped into another work runs the risk of feeling out-of-place. If it truly will fit in the new work, and it belongs, I think one's subconsciousness can be trusted to dig it up if it truly is worth remembering.

Finally, I can understand the desire to look back at how far you've come, but perhaps the time to do that might be _after_ you've written the new novel and not before. Reading old, awful work before beginning new work is typically an invitation for anxiety. It adds pressure to not suck at a time when anxiety is high and needs to be shed just to get the rough draft hammered out.

Original score: 3