Dennis, no idea what exactly your issue was, but you do what you have to do as the situation dictates, and that comes with learning fire control and learning a particular smoker. To you and others, note that I'm talking about burning wood for fuel AND smoke when it comes to stickburners. I might start off with some charcoal, but I much prefer to simply feed a stickburner with sticks. Small, cheap offsets might need feeding as often as every 20 minutes, but heavier and more efficient cookers will be more like every 30 to maybe 45 minutes. That's just part of it, but it's just feeding the fire. If done right, you don't need to keep fiddling with the vent. While I prefer cooking in the 235-275* range, I'm most concerned with getting thin blue smoke. If that means I have to cook up around 300*, no problem. I'll foil for sure, though.
Anyway, and a for instance, loaded to the hilt with cold meat, temps will logically be a little low on most smokers, big offsets included. The mistake is in making the fire too big to get up to temp faster. Then you've got a fire you can't do anything with but to choke it, and so you end up with thick, bad smoke. Like I said, you're looking for thin blue smoke, and the way to accomplish that is with a small, hot, well-ventilated fire.
As to what to burn, small "mini logs" like they sell at Academy Sports are what you want to feed the fire with, not what you see on racks for firewood. Pecan is great for a little milder smoke and low-n-slow, burning at a lower temp than oak or hickory. Oak is also good for everything, and hickory is great for butts and briskets, although most anything else as well, if you really know what you're doing and/or using foil during the cook. Fruitwood coals don't last nearly as long so it's not my cup of tea for a stickburner.
If buying fireplace wood, that's fine, though. I'd just cut in half and split as needed. The appropriate sized, well-seasoned splits of wood will help a lot as opposed to big logs that smother and smolder when first put on the fire. I like it if there's a way to preheat my splits first by laying one at a time on top of the firebox before adding to the fire. Don't do this if there's a burn ban or your pit is over dry grass, but it helps the wood ignite much faster, resulting in a very constant stream of thin blue smoke. Once you know what's going on, you can just about forget about temps and when the smoke gets near invisible that means it's time to throw another one on. It's a lot of fun if you're doing it for fun.