The Short Happy Life Story

Twitter and texting have created a new language "2B" sure. Now, two women from Rockville are proving they can tell a whole story within the space of a Facebook status update.

Their stories are trending as two of the most widely read in a Reader’s Digest magazine contest.

Michelle Blanchard Ardillo and Maureen Larson don’t know each other but have a few things in common. Both are teaching students in area schools how to be better writers, both devour their Reader’s Digest subscriptions monthly and both are in the running to be published in an upcoming edition and win $25,000.

The Reader’s Digest contest launched in August and is an opportunity for writers to share a story about their life in 150 words or fewer. The contest piggybacks on the Reader’s Digest’s new book, "Life ... The Reader’s Digest Version," written by the staff of the magazine.

The two women submitted their stories to the contest via the Readers’s Digest Facebook page where others can read the entries and vote for their favorites. Editors at the magazine select the final winners on Nov. 1.

Ardillo shared her story about her heritage, a mix of French and Scottish, in her piece “Cajun Girl in a Kilt.”

“It took 10 minutes to write it," she said. "Twitter was a great exercise that prepared me for writing a short piece like this."

But don’t expect to see numbers and strange texting abbreviations in her writing.

“I penalize my students for doing that in class. Facebook, Twitter and texting language has filtered into schoolwork and I can’t let them write like that. It can’t be a habit,” said the English literature teacher who works at Holy Redeemer School in Kensington.

Her essay is an attempt to show how she is a combination of cultures, linking her habit of eating “gumbo for lunch and scones in the afternoon.”

Maureen Larson shared a funny family story in her entry titled “Once a Parent Always a Parent.”

As one of eight siblings, Larson said money was tight and her dad did what he could to keep the family car running. He’s repaired broken speedometers, mufflers and even reattached a gas tank.

Larson’s story recalls her dad peering out the window as she drove away. At the time she said she always felt he was worried about the car, but now as a parent she realizes it was her safety that kept him glued to that window.

“I can see now why he was standing in that window making sure I got off okay,” she said, now a mother of a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old. “I do think now that we should raise the driving age.”

Larson works as an English composition assistant at in Potomac. She said she always encourages her students to write about experiences and about how they have made them grow and realize something new about themselves.

Both women said they were shocked their stories were so popular on the website. Neither had told people that they were in the running for the grand prize.

“This is a very small story but this is a feeling of excitement. If someone found it appealing, maybe if I write more than 150 words, they would like that too,” Ardillo said.

Larson had her work published in the Minneapolis Tribune in 2005

“I think mine is a story everyone can relate to,” she said. “I haven’t asked anyone to vote yet. I guess I should.”

Voters can check out the essays by visiting the Readers’s Digest Facebook page and clicking "Like."

Jane Lynch, star of Fox television series “Glee,” is the ambassador for the contest, submitting an entry of her own called “Happy Accidents.”

One writer will be selected for the grand prize of $25,000. That story will be published in the magazine. Ten other winners will have their stories published on ReadersDigest.com and will earn a $2,500 prize each. One top vote-getter via Facebook will also earn $2,500.