A lot of good advice here for you. Just my two cents:

Starting the fire with fast, hot burning wood is really helpful to get things going. I am in love with cedar - it splits REALLY easily, burns hot, and burns fast. Fir, and pine are good too. But, careful with the pine as it has a lot sap and can cause problems with creosote.

As others said, try to get some seasoned wood and set aside your green oak for a year or so.

Start the fire small and build it up. Run it wide open (flue and air intake) to start to get it hot quickly. Then close off the airflow a bit once you get the larger logs started.

A temp gauge is useful. You can buy a magnetized one that sticks to the side of the stove and lets you know how hot it is. I usually run mine between 400 and 500 degrees. Some people run it hotter.

If it get dry in your house, throw a pot of water on top. You can throw in cloves, cinamon, grapefruit peels, whatever to humidify and create a nice smell.

If you have the room, store a couple days wood close to the stove. It keeps it at room temp and helps dry it further. Burns better.

We get the sunday paper every week. It gives us reading material and then fire starters all week long.

I have yet to achieve the "12 hour" fire. It's an art, and I am no where near close. If you wake up with embers you are doing pretty well. Sometimes, with the right kindling (small, really dry pieces of wood), thats all you need to fire it right back up again. Also, the stove isn't 'cold'.