I’m totally new to lucid dreaming and only had like one or two short lucid dreams in my life. I adopted like 4 reality checks that i do pretty much every day. (counting fingers, looking at the clock, breating underwater (well, with your hands closing the nostrils) putting your finger on your hand to see if it goes though, and reading)
So far, the most common reality checks that i had was reading. Writings in my dreams are blurry, and i can only make out a word or a few letters. One night i dreampt that i was in class, trying to copy what was on the board, but, of course, it was too blurry for me to read. I realized that i was dreaming, but it didnt really click…i yelled out in my dream, “darn it! Im dreaming! how am i suppose to study for the test if i cant read the board in my dream!!”
fail.
Then i read something in another dream, but instead of the text being blurry the handwritting was totally illegible. In the dream i dissmissed it as being bad handwriting instead of it being a dream sign.
Then i couldnt breathe underwater, and i had to gasp for air.
Then my finger didnt go through my hand.
so why arent my reality checks making me lucid?
Moved from General Lucidness. 
but back to problem 
), Thinking about were you just were(most dreams don’t really connect things well), Stoping and looking around for anything off or just trying to do something you could do lucid like turning around and thinking something will appear (I don’t recommend trying to fly of of a building 
). The problem might be your just doing the RC’s without thinking about them much, but I might be wrong. Id suggest trying to be more aware and putting more thought into your RC and trying some Awareness Checks.