MILD is a type of DILD where you’re trying to program yourself to recognize a dream in the near future right before falling asleep. Here’s a guide that outlines the gist:
From what you have written so far it sounds like you’ve already been doing MILD or at least some variation of it. It can also be used to improve dream recall.
Try to improve also on the quality of your dreams. Really good recall means that you will be able to write quite a lot about a dream. Of course the amount of recall for each individual dream will also vary a lot. Maybe one night you have a dream that only begets a single line but another one yields an entire essay. That’s normal. You can check out the dream journal section on the forum to get some feeling for what level of detail and length and are possible. I’d say the post tend to be above average though (because many people don’t post short, uninteresting snippets).
The quality of your dream recall is vital. Just remembering that you had a dream and what the theme was is not satisfactory. You’ll want ample detail and several minutes of dream story, if possible. Why? Because when you have a lucid dream and all you remember is a haze, then you’re not getting your full out of lucid dreaming!
This is normal but will subside with conscious effort and practice. There are a few things to keep in mind. Dreams don’t have to be coherent. For example last night I had a dream that started in my old school’s canteen but I had to get food vouchers first. I went to a gas station on the schoolyard for that and when I went back the canteen turned into an underwater hideout of my gang. Still I write down everything I do on the way and whatever I remember, even the completely wacky intermissions.
Next is that dreams of course don’t have to make sense. Don’t be afraid to write down complete nonsense in your dream journal if that’s what your dream was. Also often you will not be sure of the facts because memory is pale or the dream to fleeting. So even if you are uncertain, still write it down. I often end my sentences with “or something like that“ or a question mark to indicate that I’m not certain.
Thirdly, dreams don’t consist of facts and actions only. You have a lot of senses. You can record your perception with any of them. Also I think that feelings in dreams are very important. They can be much stronger than IWL, too. Finally, dreams often inject some context or plot at large. Often this is just a feeling or you simply know about your circumstances while inside the dream (e.g. that you are the boss of a group of people). This is mainly done through FM, false memory. All of these things you can write down and elaborate on.