quite by accident I discovered this little tactic that is probably well known to everyone else but thought I'd post it anyway to help others who may be struggling with their recall.

I simply set my alarm to wake me up an hour earlier than usual, wake up but don't get up and really lie there and think about what I just dreamed about. Also a nice way to catch that last long REM cycle before officially getting up to start the day. My dream recall has been pretty poor for the last week I have been trying to remember them, however by doing this the last few nights I have seen a significant increase in the amount of recall and the dream I had this morning in that hour before getting up seemed to last for hours.

Now I just need to focus on getting lucid <sigh>.