Hey and welcome.
I totally agree with JoannaB. Drawing an 'A' on your hand is indeed a good reminder (I put on a friendship bracelet every morning which by now I always associate with lucid dreaming whenever I see or notice it). So it seems that you have got the 'reminding part' all set. You might also put paper slips around your room/home which look appealing to you and have something written on them like 'Am I dreaming?' or just 'Lucid Dream'...

BUT as Joanna said, never remind yourself that you are awake. Always question everything around you instead of already assuming something that you can never be sure of without actually proving it. If you didn't do that then every of your efforts would be useless considering that you already answer your own question: 'Oh, yes of course I am awake. Let's do a Reality CHeck to prove that' and then of course the Reality Check will show that you are awake.
So my suggestion: While improving your dream recall and analysing your dreams you should work on your AWARENESS which is the most important part in noticing that you are dreaming. Basically awareness helps you telling the difference between dream and reality by noticing all the subtle things in life that most people simply take for granted without ever thinking about and hence doing the same in your dreams.

Awareness helps telling what reality is like and analysing your dreams helps telling what your dreams are like. And if you now combine those 2... BAM: You have now trained your awareness and know what your dreams are like so it shouldn't be a problem telling reality and dream apart Just keep training your awareness. You might want to have a look at techniques like WBTB, ADA or MILD. As a beginner I am making a lot of use of those ones. I find them really handy and effective.
I hope I was able to help.

- Benni