I struggled at first, newspaper was slow to catch and would go out, my kindling was too big so took ages, and couldn’t get the stove thermometer in the right range.
We only get one free paper so then I tried shredded paper, all the bank docs etc that the recycling don’t really like. One page of scrunched newspaper with a big handful of sheddings, two big bits of kindling either side with small bits bridged over.
Chuck in the match (reliably down to one match now, compared to about 20 previously) and if it goes out, the paper smoulders until it starts suffocating, then crack open the door momentarily for air and woomph, up it goes. Once the kindling is going well I knock it down with a stick or the toddler to fill the gap left by the paper and start adding logs.
Using this method I can have the flue up to temp within 15-20 minutes, once it’s burnt a half decent log it will take whatever unsplittable hunk of log I can jiggle in through the door 🙂
Edit: I don’t have a toddler before anyone calls the police, before auto-correct it said riddler 🙂