Beginners luck? Need help.

Hello,
Since January, I've only had two lucid dreams.
In the first, I saw 6 fingers on my hand, and prolonged the dream by looking back at my hands. (I even touched a dream character's hair to help with grounding.)
In the second, I had a false awakening in my room and went down my steps to another room with a door. I used the door with the intention of summoning a woman. When I entered, I found her in the room in the dark, and we simply embraced in a hug for a while. When my dream faded, I held onto her dream body until my vision returned. When she left, I went down to the dining room, and noticed that my vision was blurry. I looked back at my hands until it returned to focus. After that, I saw my backyard in real time out the window, and when I went outside, I used the front door as a way of changing the house to different interior....
While these two dreams were a success (especially for a beginner) i still have some questions for you: I haven't had a lucid dream since then in over 2 weeks. When I perform Reality checks, I concentrate too much on the checks themselves instead of the questions behind them. I also lack confidence in which ones to choose. Should I do them in this order? Hands, Watch, and Finger through palm push? When I finish them, I usually repeat a mantra like: next time I dream, I see my hand and know I.m dreaming'" I try to attempt WBTB method since I wake up two times each night but need help in that area too. What mantras do you use through out the day or night before bed? Should I meditate when I wake up before attempting to sleep again? thanks' please provide other tips as well. Thanks.

That's a lot of questions, Bassdrop. Other than saying that a 2-week gap w/out Ld's is not a long one, especially for a beginner, let me just touch on the RC bit:

It sounds to me like you are doing the RC's correctly. The only question you should be asking during a RC is,"Is this a dream?" Any more than that, and you are, in my opinion, no longer doing a RC. An RC is just meant to confirm your state (i.e., your finger fails to pass through your palm, so you must not be dreaming); try to keep them as simple as possible, and save all those other questions -- whatever they are -- for before or after the RC. Also, you really only need to do one type of RC (whichever you are most comfortable); there's no need to do multiple versions.

As long as I'm here, a note about mantras: a mantra is a simple word or phrase that you use to help you hold your focus while doing, say, MILD before bedtime or WILD after WBTB; I'm not sure that repeating one after doing RC's during the day will help much (though it wouldn't hurt).

Also, you might plan on doing just one WBTB, preferably after about five hours of sleep, and follow it with a well-prepared WILD attempt. No need to meditate, but again it wouldn't hurt.

You also might visit DV's Induction Methods and Techniques forum for some specific tips on WILD and DILD. It might be worth a look.

I hope that helped, and also hope that others chime in with more detailed answers. Good luck!