Thanks for the advice, LDMan! The DEILD sounds incredibly useful; I've found that since I've been going to bed earlier I often briefly wake up a few hours before I actually get up (this had never been the case before, and it's only really been happening much over the past couple of weeks) so hopefully once I've finished getting to grips with self-awareness I'll manage to do some dream-chaining.

In answer to your tip, I keep a very regular dream journal; it dates back to the beginning of 2012. It must be about 100,000 words long by now (with no exaggeration ); maybe I should post some of my zanier dreams from the past on the forum!