I have an AU fic for a fandom that involves two characters swapping their roles and dynamics, changing the show completely. I started it in February this year, balancing between my school requirements and writing the fic. I already flopped with a previous fic, so I didn't have high expectations for this fic. However, it suddenly got some attention and people commented on the fic! It wasn't a lot and definitely not as big as bigger fics but for me it was amazing and euphoric.
I continued writing throughout my summer break from May to July and also in the first month of the new school year since it was laden with suspensions and cancelled classes thanks to multiple storms plaguing my country. Come September, and I started getting booked. Competitions, classes, school officer duties, school organization duties, etc. I started getting distracted and didn't update the fic. I posted a short little notice saying that I wasn't done with the fic and have the intentions to continue it and its spin-off that I launched in its universe.
It's October, and looking at my schedule, I can't find the time to finish another chapter without sacrificing one of my performances. Additionally, every time I look back at my fic's published chapters, I realize that there were parts that were written poorly in hindsight and could be written better now that I have a better writing hand. For example, my fic ended up including my OC (who's kinda a Gary Stu but since incorporating him I've updated him to flesh him out and make him more flawed), goes through repetitive themes, and has these "break chapters" that make the storyline messy. When I rewrite it, I want to stick mainly to the storyline, maybe a few break chapters here and there, and try to not include my OC too much and make him steal the show.
I'm so tempted to cancel that fic and its spin-off, to redo everything and restart the universe to improve it. However, that would mean that all the kudos, comments, and hits that I got would stop. It's not like I have a consistent stream of people who support me and my fic isn't known in the fandom, so people wouldn't seek it out willingly. My posts on Tumblr about the fic get minimal attention.
I would like some advice! I'm not sure what I should do, because I really want to my rewrite to experience the same hype/reception that my og fic got when it first published, but I can't assure it and the fic already ammassed a large amount of interactions.