Honing is the process of maintaining an already sharp edge. This is not a sharpening process as much as it is polishing process of a knife's rough edge.
The key with a ceramic rod or steel is a consistent, repeatable, light stroke at about a 20° angle. Some rods have guides built in while others don't in which case you can typically use the guard to help create that consistent stroke. A good rule to follow when trying to determine what 20°'s looks like is to hold your knife on the rod at a 90° angle and then reduce that by half giving you a 45° angle, then reduce that by half again which will put you at 22.5° roughly.
Another option and probably the easiest, for honing knives is a hone wheel. The key to success with a hone wheel is light pressure and keeping the knife vertical as you draw the knife through the wheel.
The main key to success with honing is frequency. This is a process that if done before every use will make your edge last much longer and therefore not need sharpening as often.
