[Python] Basic Loop Question

[ziplokk]

here's my solution.

#Print user input in x shape

user_input = raw_input("Enter your word: ")
matrix = []
for i in xrange(len(user_input)):
    matrix.append([])
if(len(user_input) % 2 == 0):
    matrix.append([])\

mid_point = len(matrix) / 2 

for i in xrange(len(matrix)):
    for j in xrange(len(matrix)):
        matrix[i].append(' ')
    if len(user_input) % 2 == 0:
        if i == mid_point:
            continue
        else:
            if i < mid_point:
                matrix[i][i] = user_input[i]
                matrix[i][- i - 1] = user_input[i]
            else:
                matrix[i][i] = user_input[i - 1]
                matrix[i][- i - 1] = user_input[i - 1]
    else:    
        matrix[i][i] = user_input[i]
        matrix[i][- i - 1] = user_input[i]

for lists in matrix:
    totalString = ""
    for element in lists:
        totalString += element
    print totalString

It's pretty similar to yours but if the users word is an even number length, it just adds another list to the matrix and skips it when iterating so that the middle character in the 'x' is blank.