Thread: So is this what I should do?

1. yep, though the exact time varies from person to person. You'll discover yours in time.
2. Not explicitly necessary, but it can help.
3. yup
4. feel free to scratch yourself, swallow etc. if you need to. It'll only set you back a few seconds at most and you're more likely to be successful if you're comfortable. Don't forget to maintain awareness throughout.
5. Again, time can vary, but, yeah.
6. Yup. Visualisation isn't necessary, but it can help.
7. If successful, yeah.
Just remember to keep your awareness up and you should be alright.
Good luck.

I'm sure you have read that you shouldn't expect it to work on the first try, but stay positive! Confidence always helps!
Yes, you are correct in your understanding, this is the general outline of the process. I will give you some advice though, in response to your points:

1) WBTB is a crucial part of WILDing, but you will have to experiment with how much sleep you have before an attempt. Between 4-6 hours is a good general rule, but for example, I like 7 or more hours. You will have to try for yourself.

2) When you wake up you will have some "free time" so you could write the dreams you just had into your Dream Journal. (I really recommend keeping one, it helps a lot with remembering non-lucid and also lucid dreams, and may increase vividness in your dreams) Be sure to go to the bathroom, so if you have a lucid dream you will not be woken up by the urge to go. You can do whatever you want in this period, but you should not turn on all the lights and do anything too physical, you don't want to become too awake. Once you feel that your mind is not too sleepy anymore, you can go back to bed. (this can be after 2 minutes or 1 hour, you will want to experiment with this also )

3) Yep, that's it.

4) Keep in mind that it is completely possible to WILD in any sleeping position. For examle I could never sleep on my back, so my first attempts were doomed to fail. If you normally sleep on your side, then try that position. It is all about being comfortable, and falling asleep fast. The most important part of WILDing is FALLING ASLEEP, retaining awareness is only secondary. (you can't really dream while awake, right? ) So, you should not see WILDing as a complex technique of all these elements of holding still, waiting, hypnagogia, waiting, sleep paralysis, entering, etc., because you should not concentrate on these. You are just going to sleep like on any other day, the only only difference is that you have a little bit of awareness of this natural process. After relaxing a little, try to not concentrate on your physical body and all the itching, swallowing, etc. If you are really itching and have to swallow and can't think about anything else, then go ahead and just do it without thinking, it's not a problem.

5) You should not pay attention to how much time has passed, remeber, you are trying to fall asleep. You can repeat a mantra or you can count numbers to keep you focused on one thing and not on your body or the process. (a good mantra is: I'm dreaming / I know I'm dreaming / I am aware / here and now (I use this), but you can make your own) That's true, any sensations should be ignored, including hypnagogia, sounds, feelings in your body.

6) Do not wait for sleep paralysis, you can not really experince it if you don't have a specific medical condition. If you are unsure what it is, here are two excellent posts: http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...explained.html , http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...alysis-sp.html
You are right about visualizing, you can do that. It is easy to start with something familiar or a dream you just had, and imagine it with the smallest details and all your senses. Or you could just "wait", and a dream can eventually form on its own, sometimes in less than a second. A third possibility is that after a while you can just sit up in your bed and start the lucid dream in your room as a kind of False Awakening. It is not easy to pinpoint this "after a while" moment, you may get sensations, you may not.

7) If you don't lose your visualization, then pretty much yes. Sometimes a totally new scene can pop up even after visualizing (I have had this in the past), but if you are aware, this should be no problem. Of course, you should always do a reality check, especially after "just sitting up in your bed".

Don't be discouraged if it doesn't work for the first time, it is like that for most people (I did about 20 attempts until I could get it).
Just go to sleep and maintain a little awareness, it's that "simple"
It would be nice if you reported back in the morning.

Best of luck to you!

Edit: Excuse me for the wall of text, I just saw that splodeymissile has already given you great tips (my browser didn't reload), I hope you still find something useful.

Thank you! I'll update you with details in the morning