I know the feeling. I've had it once or twice.
And I also have problems with VILD
(BTW - whats FAT? Never heard of it...)

I'll describe what I do lately, as some thoughts for what to try if the other suggestions dont work for you

Lately, I get most of my wake induced lucid dreams out of SHILD (self hypnosis) ... not the dream induced form but rather a wake induced variation
Basically, I use the SH steps to go past all the hypnogogic imagery and distractions without losing lucidity. I find its not as difficult as eg. VILD wrt sleep, so perhaps its worth a shot.

The method I use takes some focus too, but is a little easier IMO (although it may take more than one attempt)
Click here for the method I use
(PS - apparently I'm wrong about the suggestions being in the first person... but it works for me)

Once I'm into that area of 'nothingness/black clear-headedness', I use a little technique that I think Seeker mentioned long ago
It involved imagining lying on a raft , in the ocean (eyes closed). Feel the waves, and the sensations. After you feel you're completely in tune with the sensations and environment, you 'allow' the raft to wash up on a beach, open your eyes, and take a look around

This works well for me, but the main difficulty I have found is that its imperative to go fairly deep before opening your eyes into the LD - otherwise you end up with what I call a 'thin' dream, where everything feels almost insubstantial, and close to waking up. Occasionally I can also feel my physical body a little - not such a good thing for the dream.

Just a thought - you'll find it also takes some focus, but seems better to me