I wouldn't have had all the stories connected. To me, it is apparent with the Original Trilogy that there wasn't enough story for three films. Which, by the way, is fine. Put the story first and the audience will follow. Put the number of films first and the stories become filler.
This weird devotion to everything being A Trilogy has caused writers and directors to pad and stretch to the point of it being a detriment to the films. Tell a story. If it takes two films, fine. If you want to make more films, tell a different story. The same people can go on different adventures.
Lucas never had more than one film of story in 1977 and he sure as hell didn't have twelve films of story. Truthfully, he couldn't keep his BS straight back then either. It was 12, then 6, then 9, then 12 again, etc, etc. He started rehashing by the third film.
Letting reality influence the story didn't help either. Harrison Ford's contract status with regard to Raiders became an in-universe weirdness that drove some of the dumbest parts of the third film.
Stories\films can exist in the same universe and reference each other. Star Trek is a perfect example. So are the Indiana Jones films. James Bond and Doctor Who are also great examples. References and tangents are fine. Stretching isn't.
Lucas almost got it right when he hired Foster to write the sequel. Not sure why he abandoned his original idea of an adventure series and switched to trying to write a continuation story.
In answer to the original question, I would have done it the way Timothy Zahn has handled his novels. Some stories are continued, some stories are tangential to the previous story and characters. Brian Daley did the same.
It certainly looks like Disney is handling the franchise that way. Force Awakens is somewhat related to the 1977 story, while the stand-alones are only vaguely related.
If you can have twelve Star Trek films (some related, some not) and twenty four Bond films (some related, some not), then you can certainly have twelve Star Wars films. Just not when Lucas is involved.