I’m having trouble with writing in my dream journal as I always forget to when I wake up, and 5 minutes later when I do remember, I’ve forgotten the dream. My dreams aren’t that vivid (apart from the occasional one), so any help with that?
Also, is it worth buying the paperback version of Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming?
Hey, i also had troubles with writing in my DJ but found a way: i set my alarm 10 minutes earlier. That cant influence your sleeping pattern, but its very handy to remember to write in your DJ. Thats because if i wake up 10 minutes earlier yo maybe wake up in a dream and remember it. you have to keep you DJ less than 3 meters from your bed, so when you wake up, you can write in it while slowly waking up your mind for the day. So try to make a habbit of it, and try to understand why a DJ is so important. i hope it will work next time! 
I recently started to write a DJ as well, but I only managed to write 3 dreams/fragments as my dreams are generally pretty fuzzy. What I do is to always keep my DJ next to my bed and to wake up after about 6 hours of sleep. I understood that after 4.5 to 6 hours of sleep the longest REM cycle comes or ends. I think that if you manage to wake up soon after you can remember your dreams better.
So what I do is to set my alarm so that I get about 6 hours of sleep and just keep my DJ close to me.
What I also do is to repet “I will remember the dream” in my head when I go to sleep until I actually fall asleep.
Something that should help you to make sure that you write down your dreams first thing in the morning. Is set a task reminder 1 min. after the time that you set your alarm clock. That works for me and helps me retain what I experienced in my dream.