2. Soak it in a cup of water.

3. Take the brush out when it is soft.

4. Hold the brush in your right or left hand. Holding the brush higher creates weaker, softer strokes while holding closer to the bristles create solid, more defined strokes.

5. Use your ring finger, middle finger and thumb to hold the brush.

6. Keep your elbow above the table.

7. Dip the ink stick in water and grind against the ink stone until the ink has an oily consistency.

8. Bottled ink: Pour ink into the ink stone.

9. Begin writing characters, tilting the brush using the fingers, not the hands. Tilting the brush can add certain effects to the character that may or may not be desirable.

10. Finished Chinese calligraphy painting

In terms of holding Chinese  brushes, different people have different styles. While, just as the saying goes “the best one is the most suitable one”. Some basic and common principles should be mentioned and adopted, which is really important to the beginners. After acquiring these principles, you can create the holding method which suits you best. Generally speaking, most of the principles can be categorized into six items as follows:

1. Empty the fist and keep the inside of palm round as if we can hold a small egg.

2. Keep the fingers firm and use the fingertips instead of knuckles to hold the brush.

3. Level the wrist to a more natural and horizontal angle and avoid strained angles.

4. Keep the brush upright. The technique or principle is called "round stroke" or "upright stroke."

5. Keep the wrist supple, firm, and soft. Do not tighten up the wrist.

6. Three-Fingers Method- This method is used mostly when one is using the Hanging Arm Technique - holding the brush with the whole arm hanging in the air; the elbow, wrist, and hand must not rest on the desk.

Chinese Calligraphy Art

The last one as far as I am concerned, is the most difficult one. You can know something about it, while you had better not spend too much time on it.(art-virtue.com/principles/p2-holding.htm)