There's not really any harm in talking to others about lucid dreaming. You might convince them to try it, or you might even find that they are already lucid dreamers themselves! A little healthy excitement can make you more motivated to lucid dreaming and can increase your chances of success.

It's fairly common to have recall and LD dry spells. I wouldn't worry about it too much. As for your techniques, however, it's generally best to master one or two techniques than to be kind of okay on multiple techniques. So I would suggest sticking with your first technique.