I'm sure everyone is aware that a good release involves the thumb exiting the ball before the fingers, allowing the fingers time to impart some action on the ball.

My question is, as stated in the topic, how conscious are you of this process?  And how do you achieve getting the thumb out first?  Through collapsing the wrist?  Through just letting go?  Through having a drilling with large reverse pitch for the thumb?  Through hand position? Through anything else or a combination of anything else?

I do reasonably well in my bowling, yet the release continues to haunt me.  The comments on my form are best for my spare shooting, for which I usually project the ball out further over the lane and more or less "let go" at the appropriate moment.  Of course, this imparts no real action on the ball, which is about what you would want for spare shooting but not for strike shooting.

So, how do you do it?  Any comments or thoughts?
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Wildcard

"An unpredictable or unforeseeable factor"
(American Heritage Dictionary)

In reference to my scoring

So Jester, you're sort of conscious about keeping the wrist cupped until the thumb begins to exit, while WSU you're sort of less conscious of the thumb at the moment of release and employ a simple "let go" method?
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Wildcard

"An unpredictable or unforeseeable factor"
(American Heritage Dictionary)

In reference to my scoring

Thanks Sawbones and Pinbuster. It again sounds like two somewhat different responses - Bones with a fair degree of consciousness of release with emphasis on hand position, Pinbuster on the drilling, and both on the overall importance of overall timing.  

Again, I'm not exactly a beginner, though I know just three active years in the sport doesn't count for a long time either.  I'm not terribly interested in developing a massive hook and thus do not work on side rotation much, instead preferring to keep (or attempt to keep) my hand position relatively static throughout the process, fingers roughly at 5:00.  However, I do ocassionally allow the wrist to float up past 3:00 (a no-no, I know) when attention lapses or I'm simply getting tired.
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Wildcard

"An unpredictable or unforeseeable factor"
(American Heritage Dictionary)

In reference to my scoring