To get to some of those questions above, I notice that not all HI is the same. There are certain times it will completely materialize for me without trying to hard (EASY HI) and the kind that wants to blur away / send me to sleep (HARD HI). With enough concentration, you can WILD through both.

I've noticed with HARD HI, that you can let it slip away... don't worry, because more HI will come after that. Sometimes concentrating too hard works against you. I've let countless HI slip by if i didn't feel I could get into the dream that way. Sometimes that may not work though. Nothing is 100%.

In the morning seems to be the best time to try this, although I've had a few successes at night which can be extremely rewarding due to the amount of time you have to LD that night