I have been recording my dreams for years now, but still struggle to achieve genuine and extended lucidity. I go through phases of dream awareness with varying degrees of recall. I used to have sleep paralysis relatively often (especially when under stress), but it's been years since my last experience. One particular experience led to a brief but vivid astral projection. Other experiences were less pleasant, but I'll get to those at a later date when I'm ready to explain why there's truly nothing to worry about when you see something freaky lol.
I'll also provide a section on techniques for dream recall and lucid dreaming, in hopes that at least one of us will have some level of success...