At first, when I heard of lucid dreaming I was a little skeptical. Who wasn’t. But all of us must beleive that it might be possible, or we want to think it is possible because that would be cool would it not? 
Controling your dreams?
Anyway, I never could remember my dreams before I started writing in my DJ. But the will power to try and remember them, and the will power when I wrote them down ( early in the morning) helped me become an LDer. I think if I did not have any success in remembering my dreams, I definatly would have just given up and not tried LD for the rest of my life. So I think that everyone, new forum members (especially new people), Old LDers who are tired of writing in DJ, I think everyone should keep a DJ. Also, when you do look back on your previous dreams, it is very interesting, you remember that birthday party, or whatever fun you had. Writing in your DJ will also inspire you to have a Lucid Dream.
DJ is definately one of the base nessecities of LDing.
Dream memory is vital otherwise you just forget your dreams instantly rather than now where we can remember our dreams quite well even with the whole “you forget 50% within 5 mins and 90% within 10 mins”
50% in 5 mins? No wonder I kept forgetting - I lie in bed for at least an hour after waking up, for some reason.
Instead of lying, you could just lay still and try recalling your dreams. Thinking of possible themes and subjects. Usually you can recall them pretty well when you just lay down after waking up.
As, for Keys to LD. You should check the sticky topic.
For more tips:
The “Keys” to Lucid-Dreaming
It seems like I forget 99% in the first 30 seconds. 
I forget my dreams except for the last ‘minute’ before i wake up. But i can recall specific sentences and such. Like last night i went vacationing with family and recall staying in room 204 and another dream my apartment number was 1642
Yes!
I definitely agree! keeping a dj has been great for me, looking back at old dreams that I may not even remember in a few hours at all gives me a good feeling. It kind of gives you at times (depending on the dream) something to think about whenever I have some downtime; I tend to have a better mentality throughout the day.
I just thought I’d add to this, I reccommend you try and keep the journal with you throughout the day if you can - keep it close, keep it hidden if you must, but I find that alot of the time its really great having it to either vent or just write down thoughts, theres some good ideas in there ( especially the ones you may forget in a few minutes and don’t want to) It just helps you get to know yourself and organize your mind throughout the day.
Basically my dj became the diary that I never had the motivation to keep. Thing is, when I try and write in it every morning, it all just tends to flow during the rest of the day. 
I should make a video diary of my dreams. I take too long to write and it would be an interesting use for my mule account on YouTube.