in discussion Setting Styles / Style Questions » How would I expand the size of my widget?
First, select options at the bottom of the widget and then select the "Manage Content" link. This should bring up a page that looks like:

Then click the "Edit Settings" link in the bottom right. This should bring up a screen that looks like:

Click on the "Widget Display" button to get to a screen that looks like:

Click on "Content Options". About half way through the options is a field that holds the number of characters in the description. Just change the number and then click the "Save Widget" button at the bottom of the screen. If you refresh the page that has the Syndicated content, it should now be updated with the new size for the description of each story.