Getting serious. Where to start???

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I think most people will tell you to solidify your tactical knowledge first. I like Dan Heisman's novice nook articles

http://www.chesscafe.com/archives/archives.htm#Novice Nook

I would also focus on longer time control games (instead of blitz) and analyze your games when you are finished. 

It's been said many times before, but spend time with the tactics trainer.   When I got on this site, my rating dipped lower than yours is now and nothing has helped me more than studying tactics.   It helps you to get a better feel for how pieces work in combination.

  You're absolutely right that people will often not follow standard opening theory so memorizing openings isn't helpful at lower levels - it's better to have a general understanding of what to do in the opening - read this article, it'll give you some basic guiding principles to follow in the opening: http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-principles-of-the-opening

what exactly do you mean by something more serious? for 99 percent of the members of this site, chess is and always will be, a hobby.

I would say that you don't really have to study openings till you acheive a rating of 2000.  Games are not decided in the openings very often they are decided because people make tactical blunders.

Hire me.

And probably stay there for a couple of years

Worked for me

start here! http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

Tactics tactics tactics, every day (not been following my own advice lately), review your games and figure out where you went wrong.  Learn the basics of opening principles (development, control of the center).

Use a book or database where you can play through master level games quickly, especially annotated games.  Even after 50 years Irving Chernov's book, Logical Chess Move by Move might be the best book there is for a beginner.  Also, the free online database at chessgames.com is a great place play through games quickly - although most of them are not annotated, its a great way to get a feel for where pieces should be placed.

Good luck and have fun!

tray thou think lake grandmaster

Read My System by Nimzovitsch (by read I mean; the way you should read an instructional chess book, actually playing through the moves, etc.) ...Then read it again.  This was the advice given to me (also rated around 1000) by someone rated around 2100. 

I'm no pro by a long shot, but I find tactics trainer really helps my pattern recognition and strategy planning, so I'm going to back that advice from everyone.

Also, and I'm not sure if you're allowed to promote sites here, but I'm no affiliation and other people are suggesting books so I'm gonna go for it: www.thechesswebsite.com is one of the best chess resources for the beginner and amateur on the internet.

i was always told to gain a solid foundation on the basic chess principles and concentrate on improving your endgame i have chessmaster grandmaster edition and the josh waitzkin tutorials are extreemly helpfull to me i used to play below 900 and within about 2 weeks im now around 1200 and im getting better all the time

Thanks for all the advice. I have been banging out tactics daily. The chess.com study plan looks interesting as well. Going to check out some of the books and other advice givin. Thanks again, everyone.

I went from @1200 to @1300 in Live Chess in the last 30 days. I credit the Tactics Trainer and Rook/Pawn and Pawn Endgame studies in the Chess Mentor.  

It is an excellent question: where to start. Chess makes this more troublesome a situation than it is in other pursuits; chess is integrated in its ideas.Thus there is no perfect place to start - all starting points have their flaws.

For me tactics exercises are nigh on useless because I can't see tactics in isolation - I can only see them if I have seen the play that's led to that point.

But, back to the question: where to start?

Clear the board. Put on a white bishop at b2. Put on a white queen on a1. See how they are pointed along the diagonal and they support each other as almost a "super-piece" or in the jargon a "battery". Put a black pawn at g7 and see how it is so under fire in that line.

Clear the board. Put a white bishop at b2. Put a white pawn at c3. Put a black pawn at c4. See how much weaker the bishop is here; it's blocked in.

Clear the board. Put a white bishop at b2. Put a second white bishop at b3. Put a king at h8. See bishops working together and king under fire.

Positional strengths of pieces - no need to make it complicated.

Robert M. Snyder wrote two books that may help you:

Unbeatable chess lessons for juniors

More unbeatable chess for juniors.

These both contain detailed discussions of 24 games each, move by move. You can learn both tactics and strategy reading them.

I also advise you to play against the computer here, say set at 1200. You will soon recognize the dropped moves, but it takes skill to take advantage of them. If you play, say, 20 games a day only, you will learn to recognize your most commonly recurring weaknesses, will appreciate the knight forks, the bishop pins and the pawn storms. Then I would start playing against real opponents.

Just one more thing; although Tactics Trainer is an excellent tool, do not get too focused on tactics you could do (computers rarely let you do that anyway), but tactics that could be done against you as well.

chess.com have study plans for exactly this. Go here and follow their advice. It's a step by step walkthrough for improving at chess. Exactly what you want!