Well then, I don't really know how this is usually done, so I'm just going to go with what feels right.
I became interested in lucid dreaming a few months ago when I saw a picture of technique (I think it was basically a WILD variation), and starting to look it up, but i quickly became uninterested in it.
But yesterday I rediscovered lucid dreaming on reddit, and eventually ended up here, where there seemed to be a really nice community. I read through the basic guides and the main page, but I got a bit discouraged because it has been years since my last dream that I could remember. So last night, I tried doing the mantra thing where I told myself "I will remember my dreams.". It wasn't quite a success, because I can't at all recall my dream(s), but I do remember that I woke up in the middle of the night, and I remember the feeling of being proud of myself because I could finally remember my dream (I fell asleep about 5 seconds after waking up), and then woke up in the morning. Today I have tried WILD twice and I think that once I got really close to the start of getting in the dream (I don't think it will work out for me since usually it takes 0.5-1.5 hours for me to fall asleep after I go to bed).
I will end this post now, since I fear breaking a rule or just being irritating. I will probably answer everyone either today or tomorrow.

PS.: Sorry for any gramatical errors or typos (english is not my first language)