Save my Money!

[TheCarter]

Hello. I have been a fairly casual poker player for about 3 years, priding my skills against other casual players, but never considering myself a good poker player. So I guess I would rate myself a 4/10 on poker skills. Recently I have decided to become a little more serious with my game, so I purchased "Small Stakes Holdem" and read it three times, then took my new skills to the table. I am staring with just .5/1 and 50 bucks. Within my first 4 hours I was at 130.00, playing well and feeling good. The next day (today) I am at 60.00 and starting to lose hope. I am using the skills from the book, and just because I keep losing money I do not stray from the techniques the book taught. But I keep losing on the river. And I know that is a very low-levelled skilled player thing to say, but I really feel that way, and I have lost probably over $100 or more in pots just from losing on the River, when I out played my opponent up until that point. So I am stuck. What do I do? Do I keep my head strong and hope this funk goes away or do I try something else?
Please help before my money is gone.