Somehow the current UI of yourstory is not working for me. Not sure what they want me to focus on - the first row itself is an Ad which brings the experience down or are they trying to be yet another mainstream media? I would have pushed the first ad after the main fold. Also the placements of trending is confusing - are the below trending or the hashtags - since those ideally were the website sections.  

Again 'write your story' is also not standing out. It could have been highlighted by the brand color if they really want users to submit story?