DEILD Question

For DEILD, does it make much of a difference at which point in a REM cycle one makes a DEILD attempt?

Last night I awoke from a dream, and as I do for journaling I remained still with closed eyes and exercised recall. Recall was immediate and since I've been thinking of trying to DEILD I did so. It was kind of neat, as I lay there and within a few seconds the dreamscape formed around me and as far as I could tell I was right back at the last part of the dream I remembered: In a Viking longboat in a very heavy sea. I was about to do a RC to confirm and then I find myself waking up again. I repeat and end up back in the dream, and again I attempt a RC only to find myself waking up again. I attempted to re-enter the dream again but to no avail.

I'm wondering if this what at the end of a REM cycle and it was just spent? Is that possible?

Yes, of course it may have been a few last "sputters" of REM before it finally finished. That's quite cool, though! I have had so few DEILDs work that when they do it's always a massively fun experience, that it's hard to stay calm in order to keep the dream. When conditions are just right, you can just keep chaining, and it's an amazing experience. Catching multiple FAs in a row is also really fun.

Yeah, it was pretty cool! What I decided to do a few days back is when I have awakenings and if dream memory is immediate and strong I'll attempt to DEILD. If that fails I'll then simply journal and then SSILD, hoping to set the stage for lucidity.

This was my third or fourth attempt, and I was surprised I actually got back in. The other attempts never even came close. Totally different feel then the DILD I had. It's even possible that level of surprise worked against retaining lucidity. It's cool though. I'll take the 20 or 30 seconds of lucidity! It just opened another doorway of possibility for me. :D