Can a writer still enjoy reading?

Yes and No

Let's start off with the "No", shall we? I think writers have less tolerance for a)bullshit, b) poor grammar and or punctuation, and c) shitty writing.

Bullshit would include things like stereotypical, cardboard cut-out characters or lame, non-sensical plots, or super shitty behaviour that is never addressed or condemned, like if you have a racist or sexist character who is never so much as challenged or questioned about it. Grrr.

Shitty writing is head-hopping (when the chapter starts off from one character's point of view and suddenly switches to someone else's, inexplicably.), bad dialogue, or over-writing.

As a relative newbie to this game, I still struggle with these three things, of course, but I've also become an expert at finding them in other people's work. Isn't that the way it goes? Fingding fault in others is ever-so-much easier than finding it in ourselves.

On the other hand, when a story is really good, I'm that much more impressed because I know how hard it can be to write something that is just right. I have pages of my journal filled with lines from books that just floored me with how succinct yet complex they were. Two years ago, I might have read a really good book and thought "Well, that was nice.", while now, it's a joy.

I have a much great appreciation for world-building as well, whereas before, I never really noticed it. Take The Wheel of Time series for instance. I hate these books with a fiery passion (well, maybe not the first, but each subsequent book I read just made me angrier, until I finally gave up after book 5).

Now, I can really appreciate the magnitude of the task Jordan took on in creating Middle-Aglaesia...whatever the world was called. It really is amazing, even if he did steal heavily from Tolkien. That being said, he really took it to a whole other level. I'm pretty sure you could have asked him any question about the world and he would've known the answer, that's how thorough he was. Mind you, everything else sucked. He couldn't write a decent female character for shit, he was long winded as hell, and had the plot moving like molasses.

That being said though, you never really know if your tastes have changed until you go back and re-read some stuff. I re-read Christopher Moore's Bite Me and still liked it, although the spelling mistakes and head hopping was a bit distracting. I think, if the book is good, I'll over look little things like that. BUT, if the book is badly written, I'll toss it.