Hi mahoogie!

I'm a beginner just like you, and I am starting to get used to the techniques. I am presently working on both DILD and WILD, as well as frequently reading information on the subject.

Why both? Because why not! It's not like you have to choose one or the other ! What I tell myself is that by doing so, I will have 2x more chances of getting a LD !

For WILD, I try to regularly practice it at bedtime during the week (I'm student with heavy schedule so I can't really try WBTB during the week) to get used to the process. Doing it at bedtime is not recommended, but I found it useful to get to know the feeling of the technique and practice it! So far I had good results with that! I plan to try WILD with Wake Back To Bed during weekends!
There is a great tutorial for WILD which was recommended to me by gab. It has a detailed explanation of the process with great tips and exercises! Just Google "sageous WILD" ans it should be the first link!

For DILD, I try to develop Reality Checks habits as well as Reverse Reality Checks habits, like Matt1 wrote about (the wondering part). sageous talks about it in his first lesson !

Finally, I try to improve my dream memory by starting a dream journal, to keep track of my dreams and to point out recurrent aspects of my dreams, and by reviewing my dreams in the morning. It's useless to have LDs only to forget them the next morning!

I hope that my beginner's point of view can help you!