diff --git a/src/parser.js b/src/parser.js
index 9afecf7..3b25779 100644
--- a/src/parser.js
+++ b/src/parser.js
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ function collectPosts(data, config) {
 				title: getPostTitle(post),
 				date: getPostDate(post),
 				categories: getCategories(post),
-				tags: getTags(post),
+				tags: getTags(post)
 			},
 			content: translator.getPostContent(post, turndownService, config)
 		}));
@@ -95,20 +95,22 @@ function getPostDate(post) {
 }
 
 function getCategories(post) {
-	return processCategoryTags(post, "category");
+	const categories = processCategoryTags(post, 'category');
+	return categories.filter(category => !settings.filter_categories.includes(category));
 }
 
 function getTags(post) {
-	return processCategoryTags(post, "post_tag");
+	return processCategoryTags(post, 'post_tag');
 }
 
 function processCategoryTags(post, domain) {
 	if (!post.category) {
 		return [];
 	}
+
 	return post.category
-		.filter(c => c["$"].domain === domain)
-		.map(({ $: c }) => c.nicename);
+		.filter(category => category.$.domain === domain)
+		.map(({ $: attributes }) => attributes.nicename);
 }
 
 function collectAttachedImages(data) {
diff --git a/src/settings.js b/src/settings.js
index cad784b..9425ce9 100644
--- a/src/settings.js
+++ b/src/settings.js
@@ -14,3 +14,7 @@ exports.include_time_with_date = false;
 // tokens are documented here: https://moment.github.io/luxon/docs/manual/formatting.html#table-of-tokens
 // if set, this takes precedence over include_time_with_date
 exports.custom_date_formatting = '';
+
+// categories to be excluded from post frontmatter
+// this does not filter out posts themselves, just the categories listed in their frontmatter
+exports.filter_categories = ['uncategorized'];
diff --git a/src/writer.js b/src/writer.js
index 33be01b..18dc6bb 100644
--- a/src/writer.js
+++ b/src/writer.js
@@ -56,14 +56,26 @@ async function writeMarkdownFilesPromise(posts, config ) {
 
 async function loadMarkdownFilePromise(post) {
 	let output = '---\n';
-	Object.entries(post.frontmatter).forEach(pair => {
-		const key = pair[0];
-		const value = Array.isArray(pair[1])
-			? (pair[1].length === 0 ? "" : "\n  - \"" + pair[1].join("\"\n  - \"") + "\"")
-			: '"' + (pair[1] || '').replace(/"/g, '\\"') +'"';
-		output += key + ': ' + value + '\n';
+
+	Object.entries(post.frontmatter).forEach(([key, value]) => {
+		let outputValue;
+		if (Array.isArray(value)) {
+			if (value.length > 0) {
+				// array of one or more strings
+				outputValue = value.reduce((list, item) => `${list}\n  - "${item}"`, '');
+			}
+		} else {
+			// single string value
+			const escapedValue = (value || '').replace(/"/g, '\\"');
+			outputValue = `"${escapedValue}"`;
+		}
+
+		if (outputValue !== undefined) {
+			output += `${key}: ${outputValue}\n`;
+		}
 	});
-	output += '---\n\n' + post.content + '\n';
+
+	output += `---\n\n${post.content}\n`;
 	return output;
 }