Stupid instrument question
Enlighten me please, because my trusty Jepp book is really not right now. How do you determine which direction you hold in? As in inbound toward the fix or outbound from the fix? I get the whole right turn/left turn and different entries, but I just don't get why sometimes you hold toward the fix and other times not -
If the hold is published, I see the arrows and I can figure that out (Thank God!) but unpublished?! Sure, ATC will say "hold west of xyz on the xcv radial or DME" but WHICH FRICKIN WAY and WHY IF I AM INBOUND MIGHT I HAVE TO TURN BACK OUTBOUND?!
I'm obviously missing something very basic here, and I feel like such a dork for asking, but can someone please dumb it down for me?!
Thanks,
MHM