Babbsack:
I usually open the Serial monitor window before uploading the sketch and I use an Arduino Nano with CH340G chipset (China clone).
Try this:
int main (void)
{
init(); // performs timer and interrupt setup
Serial.begin (9600); // setup serial port
while (!Serial); // probably don't need this
Serial.println ("Serial Monitor initialized..."); // print message
while (1); // forever loop (main has nowhere to "exit" to).
}