Hello, everyone! I'm new to this community (though I have lurked around a few times) and I'd like your advice on what I have experienced.

Okay, so back in December-January I was really excited to try Lucid Dreaming. I was getting into the habit of doing reality checks throughout the day, such as looking at my hands to make sure I had five fingers, looking at clocks to see if the time has changed, and trying to breath while plugging my nose, as well as asking myself: "Am I dreaming?". After about a week of this I decided to buy a Dream Journal.

This is where I had trouble.

Note: Before I had bought the Dream Journal, I could remember my dreams really well; sometimes I could remember whole dreams. So, after the first night of using the DJ, I couldn't remember a thing when I woke up in the night, or in the morning. I thought it might be a coincidence, so I tried again the next night. This time I could remember very small portions of my dreams. So... I gave up. But I'm willing to try again!

TL;DR: Bought a DJ, couldn't remember a thing even though I could remember dreams really well before. Want to try again.

Question Time:

Has this happened to anyone else? Is it normal?
Should I have just kept going? Would the problem fix itself?
Am I doing something wrong?

I know it's kind of long, but thankyou for taking the time to help!