Hi Ronald and Aalexx,
Good spirits both of you. I congratulate the way you have tried keeping each other inspired.
Ronald, I would like to share a few things which might be of help. I remember, initially i also struggled a lot with my recall. Just like you I was desperate to improve my recall and probably tried a lot of different methods. A few things were very helpful.
If you happen to wake up in between dreams, do not move, change position or roll over. Do not ask yourself any questions. Don’t try to seek the beginning of a dream. Instead, if you pay attention most likely you will at least have a fading visual of how your last dream has ended. Pay attention to it. It is important not to lose the “ending feel” you had. Once you have clear picture of the closing act (or the way it abruptly ended), try to uncover what happened before the end. You have to go sequence by sequence backwards, but usually once you trace a few sequences you will automatically receive a good picture of your last dream. This way you could recover at least 70-80% of a dream.
Obviously you wouldn’t have to undertake this process, if you happen to remember most part of the dream. If you happen to wake up in between dreams, and if you can remember most part of the context, all or most of the dream characters involved, and a reasonable sense of the conversations you had - excellent! In whichever case, make sure once you recall a dream, visualize it again and try to stitch the pieces of action into your conscious memory. This i believe is very important. Do not leave recalling dreams till you are fully awake in the morning. Recalling them is a process you do in between your sleep.
Despite trying this if you still struggle with your morning recall, I advice you keep a small notepad, book or a piece of paper (and a pen) by your bed. When you wake up in between dreams, and if you manage to recall a dream either by an excellent instant recall, or a by a sequential recall ; make sure you note down a few keywords and names of the dream characters (if you recognize them). You could include descriptions of characters or places like “old man”, “professor” “some assembly hall”, “industrial area” etc. Please do not turn on the lights. You don’t have to get up for doing this. That may affect the quality of your sleep and it won’t be good if you have to make it to the office, school or college the next day. Keep it short, write them down in the light of your phone if possible. And then roll over, sleep and enjoy your dreams. This way, it is impossible to forget a dream completely.
Having said all that, it wouldn’t work if you are a dead sleeper. I mean if you are the type who don’t wake up in between at all. Some nights i sleep like that. Only thing i remember is getting under the blanket. And then next thing is the alarm ringing at 8 o clock. Which is a situation that sucks, from a dreamers perspective.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Keep trying. Lucid dreaming is awesome. All the best.