I'm kinda on the fence about the effectiveness of RCs, though I'm sure someone will point you at them.

Have you tried the WBTB method? I find the best method for me is setting my alarm an hour before I really want to wake up, reminding myself that I'm about to dream, then fall back asleep. It sounds like you have good dream recall, so you just need to remember that you are in a dream.

And I'm afraid for most people it comes with the territory that the first few times you become lucid you're either going to wake up, or "forget" that you're lucid during the course of the dream.

Take a poke through the other forums. There's lots of good stuff there.