Or you just make the redstone go direct to the piston. Yes it is annoying but it is the only way. Say X is the sticky piston Way you have it: X | _ | Way you need it: X | | | |_ |
That doesn't make sense. It should just snap right to it when it is next to it, it has always done that for me. I have redstone next to it in every conceivable way, even doing the repeater trick he mentioned, and still no good. And as far as your diagram goes, redstone automatically connects to things next to it. It can go 4 ways given if things are next to it like this +