trouble writing results to files

[lisa.engblom at gmail.com]

I have two semi related questions...

First, I am trying to output a list of strings to a csv file using the
csv module.  The output file separates each letter of the string with a
comma and then puts each string on a separate line.  So the code is:

import csv
output = csv.writer(open('/Python25/working/output.csv', 'a'))
a = ["apple", "cranberry", "tart"]
for elem in range(len(a)):
    output.writerow(a[elem])


... and it would write to the file:
a,p,p,l,e
c,r,a,n,b,e,r,r,y
t,a,r,t

How do I get it to write "apple", "cranberry", "tart" ?

Second, there is a significant delay (5-10 minutes) between when the
program finishes running and when the text actually appears in the
file.  Any ideas for why this happens?  It is the same for writing with
the csv module or the standard way.

thanks!
Lisa