Phazzle, welcome to DV .

It almost sounds like you may be going into sleep paralysis and trying to lucid dream, in which case this is WILD (Wake-Induced Lucid Dream), not MILD (Mnemonic-Induced Lucid Dream). You should try to clear your mind of everything except lucid dreaming, and if you don't focus on what's happening in the SP (Sleep Paralysis), you should enter the dream. You may not get success straight away, but part of lucid dreaming is patience.

ShockWave.