Hard to go wrong with advise from Aaron Franklin. He uses a " log cabin" method of stacking his splits, but that will build a good sized fire and while it fits his backyard smoker ( which I have one ), it'll be too big for yours.
Its actually larger than what I like. I start like he says
" Start by placing two dense logs on either side of your firebox as a foundation "
And between those two I dump a small chimney of lump charcoal. Then I put a couple of splits across. I dont' do the top layer like Aaron does.
I use unlit lump and a weed burner, but if ya don't have the weed burner, just use lit lump.
The lump charcoal will get ya good head start on a coal bed, like
Newglide
has said above, that's your primary source of heat and what ya want to keep going. During a long cook, I'll add a large chunk of lump charcoal, like softball size that are generally found at the top of bags of lump, every hour or so just to help the coal bed.
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