Dada’s Rock: Chris Mizzoni

Filed Under Mamas Rock | November 16, 2007

This month we’re switching gears a little, and profiling Chris Mizzoni, an entrepreneurial dad rather than a mama. We’ve been asked why yoyomama is not for dads as well, and while we never wanted to leave dads out of the equation, it’s just that yoyoparent didn’t have quite the same ring to it…

Chris is the author and illustrator of Clancy with the Puck, released by Raincoast Books this past September. The book also includes an animated short of the story. Inspired by baseball classic, Casey at the Bat, Clancy is the story of a hockey star whose hubris overtakes his skill on the ice during a Stanley Cup final.

A hockey player and self-described “hockey nerd” with a huge hockey memorabilia collection, the idea for Clancy has been living in Chris’s head since he was in college. An animator at local animation house, Studio B Productions, Chris took the idea for a Clancy animated short to his boss, and they came up with the idea of a book and DVD combo. Knowing Raincoast had an impressive Hockey oeuvre for kids, they took the idea to them. And that was that.

Chris was responsible for the book side of things while working with Studio B to produce the cartoon on the side. They even roped in Bob Cole, the legendary voice of Hockey Night in Canada, as a narrator. Now the father of two-and-a-half year old Dreya (who’s already strapped on her first pair of skates), Chris began working on the book in earnest when she was about six months old. He worked in the evenings, during naptime, late into the night, whenever he could, continuing to work as the Location Designer and Layout Supervisor on Ricky Sprocket, Showbiz Boy by day.

The rewards of being an author aren’t hugely financial, but Chris gets a thrill of seeing his book on the shelves at the bookstore and from his daughter waving it around saying “It’s Daddy’s book.” He’s also filling in Clancy’s back story, with two more books on the way. And that’s not likely to be the last of Clancy. In Chris’s head is an entire interactive Clancy universe, including a league of eight hockey teams, their lineups, stats and standings.

His goal is to be able to devote himself to writing full-time, but in the meantime he’s fitting it in any and everywhere he can. As Chris says, “It’s not really work if it’s about hockey.”

Find out all about Clancy with the Puck on the Raincoast website: www.raincoast.com/clancy

Entrepreneurial tip: “Don’t procrastinate, use every waking hour to get everything that you need to do done. Use your time wisely.”

Previous mamas who rock:

• Lisa Will, Stonz Booties
• Shelley Franchini, The Stage Mother
• Lori Joy Smith, artist
• Sharon Chai, Bamboobino