Originally Posted by
FryingMan
Your ideas all sound spot-on. Self-evaluating your practice is a big part of making it work.
I think mentally reviewing dreams, really letting them soak in by reviewing them repeatedly, before moving to record, results in overall better recall. I've been doing this for a while now and find that when I work on it, I can recall most dreams that I recall after wakings during the night all in the morning in full or almost full detail. I think it's a good practice to put off recording until the morning, but there is the risk of some detail fading.
Spending effort on the night is really important. It generally makes the difference in getting lucid in dreams for me. Paying attention to dreams is perhaps even more important than paying attention in waking life. Both are required, but it's attention and awareness in dreams that leads to LDs.