I live in Austin, Texas, "the live music capitol of the world." The household includes my wife, Joan, and a menagerie of dogs & cats. My four kids have all flown the coop. Kim & Grady, my true adults, are grown and have families of their own. Katie and Andrew, my rebel, continue to sow their wild oats (good for them).

By trade, I'm an addictions counselor. I began working in that field in 1983, the same year I earned my doctorate degree in Educational Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin. I founded Solutions Addictions Counseling & Treatment Center in 1985 and ran it until 1994, when I sold it to an international hospital corporation for probably more money than it was worth. Solutions continues to operate today under the name La Hacienda's Solutions. And I'm happy to say that it's still a top notch treatment center.

Following a two-year break from the addictions field, during which I completed the first draft of High Bottom Drunk, I went to work for Austin Recovery Center, a large non-profit addictions treatment conglomerate in and around Austin. I served as ARC's Clinical Director and then Director of Adolescent Services until 1999.

Another two-year break gave me time to finish writing and editing HBD. I shopped it to publishers for a while, and had several good bites. But those companies wanted complete control over the book, including its contents and title. At the time, I didn't need the money, so I decided to form my own company--Small Change Publishing--and publish it myself.

After about a year of marketing and selling HBD, I joined the staff of The University of Texas at Austin as Coordinator of Alcohol & Drug Education. That was in 2001. I left UT in 2008 to manage a large federal grant that serves families who are involved in the child welfare system as a result of the parents' substance abuse. It's a great job working with an exceedingly challenging population.

I worked on High Bottom Drunk off and on for a long time. I actually got the idea for it in 1990 while on a solo hiking trip in the Colorado Rockies. It was 'a God thing' as we say in recovery meetings. I prayed for direction for my life, and the book, including the title and opening paragraph, popped into my head. I promised myself right then and there that I would write it. I never doubted that I would, even though it took me awhile.

People ask me how much of High Bottom Drunk is autobiographical, and I tell them about two-thirds or so. I'm not so anxious to say exactly which two-thirds it is. I'm afraid that if I did that, my mom might disown me. And I'm not kidding about that. On the other hand, the book's perspective on addiction and recovery is fully my own. It represents what I've learned over the years from my own dumb mistakes added to the wisdom that I've culled from other addicts, both those in recovery and those not yet there.

High Bottom Drunk is not a "pretty" story, though it certainly has its beautiful moments. Real life addiction, and even real life recovery, never is particularly pretty. The story is honest, though--brutally so, perhaps. I felt as though it had to be. I've seen too much fluff that misrepresents the true nature of addiction & recovery. The thing is, I respect and fear addiction. I respect and love recovery. I wrote and helped publish High Bottom Drunk: A Novel...and the Truth about Addiction & Recovery in an effort to help people walk away from the former (addiction) and into the latter (recovery). 

So... what's on my personal horizon? Well, I'm very slowly but surely working on a second novel. The working title is Elephants in the Living Room, Tigers behind the Doors. The idea for the story came to me one night when I was thinking about Steve Campbell's childhood and adolescent years (Steve Campbell is High Bottom Drunk's protagonist.). Both of Steve's parents were alcoholics. His dad was an unstable, violent alcoholic. I pictured a 15-year-old Steve in his bedroom, with his door closed and locked, sitting at his desk and writing in his journal about his lonely, confusing, screwed up life. I put myself in his place, and because I'm familiar with his circumstances, I started writing from his perspective. Before I knew it, I was hooked, and Elephants in the Living Room, Tigers behind the Doors had been born. 

At first, I thought it would be a book about adolescents, for adolescents. It's not turning out that way, though. It's a story about people, for people. I do believe, however, that adolescents will understand Elephants... & Tigers.... I know I would have. It would have helped me a great deal.

If you're so inclined, you can contact me by email here: croper1(at)austin.rr.com (not a direct link in order to avoid address being robotically gathered for spam). I answer most of the emails I get from people who read High Bottom Drunk.